HRANA: Following the Correction of the Case Known as 'Ekbatan Town', Four Defendants Will Be Tried

The news agency HRANA, affiliated with human rights activists in Iran, reported that after correcting the case known as 'Ekbatan Town', four defendants in this case will be tried in the criminal and revolutionary courts of Tehran. According to the report, the 'Ekbatan Town' case was sent to Branch 13 of the Tehran Criminal Court and Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati, after the correction was made in Branch 4 of the Tehran District 27 Criminal Investigation Court. This case had been returned to the prosecutor's office at the end of Farvardin for the rectification of a 'confidential defect'. Peyman Darvishan, one of the lawyers for the defendants in the 'Ekbatan Town' case, had previously reported the existence of 'fundamental problems and defects' in this case. The defendants, identified as Milad Arman, Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini, Mehdi Imani, and Navid Najaran, were arrested following the nationwide protests of 1401 and the formation of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement, facing charges such as 'moharebeh (waging war against God) through the use of cold weapons', 'participation in the premeditated murder' of a Basij member named 'Arman Ali-Vardi', and 'disruption of the public order and tranquility'. Meanwhile, Milad Arman, the first defendant, has denied the charge of 'moharebeh' and explicitly stated that he has never possessed any weapons, whether cold or hot. Defendants charged with 'moharebeh' are always at risk of receiving the death penalty from the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic. The Iran Human Rights Association announced on June 6 that Milad Arman, Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini, Mehdi Imani, and Navid Najaran, after being transferred from Qezel Hesar Prison to an unknown location on May 11, have been subjected to severe pressure to confess to actions they did not commit. According to reports, the defendants in this case have been subjected to severe torture during their detention and forced to confess against themselves and other defendants. Pressure on the four detained defendants in the Ekbatan case for forced confessions; interview with Hossein Raeisi; the uncertainty of the defendants in the 'Ekbatan children' case; transfer of four political prisoners from the IRGC detention center to Qezel Hesar Prison; a member of the families of the victims: one of the defendants in the 'Ekbatan children' case was tortured for 40 days for a forced confession; the four defendants in the 'Ekbatan Town' case remain in detention without a clear status.