Islamic Republic Sentences 40 Defendants of Evin Prison Fire to 265 Years in Prison and Over 5,000 Lashes

A human rights organization reported that the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has sentenced the defendants in the "Evin Prison fire" case to a total of "265 years" in prison and "over five thousand lashes." HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, reported on Tuesday, June 25, that Branch 1148 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province sentenced 40 defendants in the Evin Prison fire case of 2022 to "imprisonment, lashes, and blood money." According to the ruling issued by this court, presided over by "Jabbar Javadi Rami," the 40 defendants, including "Majid Roshan-Nejad, Loqman Aminpour, Meysam Dehban-Zadeh, Mohammad-Hossein Moradian, Sina Mirzaei, Masoud Hosseinzadeh, Reza Haji, Mohammad-Sobhan Moazenzadeh, Ayoub Emami-Zadeh, Nima Mohammadi, Alireza Aslami, Hamid-Reza Nazr, Amir-Hossein Youssefvand, Meysam Moradian, Ahmad-Reza Kounani, Sobhan Hayatpour, Sasan Zamani, Reza Salmani-Zadeh, Hossein Behzadi, Mohammad Garavand, Mohammad-Hossein Mousavi, Qasem Mohammadi, Erfan Zarif Ibn Kazem, Jalal Nasrollahi, Gholam-Hossein Hashemi Siawashani, Masoud Parchami, Hassan Malekshahi, Mohammad-Ali Delkhah, Saeed Khodapour, Milad Abol-Vafaee, Ashkan Kafi, Alireza Vali, Mohammad Khan-Mirzaei, Kamran Nadi-Ali, Omid Astaneh, Alireza Nazari, Rahman Alipour, Ali Mousavi, Majid Karimi, and Ali Sadeqi Shirsavar" have been introduced. The report states that these 40 defendants are facing charges including "destruction of property, disruption of prison order, disobedience and rebellion against officers, and semi-intentional murder" and have been sentenced to a total of "265 years of imprisonment, 5032 lashes, blood money, and expulsion from Iran." This human rights organization provided details of the court ruling, which was held on June 19, stating that the defendants "Majid Roshan-Nejad, Loqman Aminpour, Meysam Dehban-Zadeh, Sina Mirzaei, Mohammad-Sobhan Moazenzadeh, Ayoub Emami-Zadeh, Ahmad-Reza Kounani, Sasan Zamani, Mohammad Garavand, Saeed Khodapour, and Alireza Vali" were each sentenced to "six years in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "destruction of property," "16 months in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order," and "16 months in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers." Additionally, "Mohammad-Hossein Moradian, Masoud Hosseinzadeh, Reza Haji, Nima Mohammadi, Alireza Aslami, Amir-Hossein Youssefvand, Meysam Moradian, Sobhan Hayatpour, Reza Salmani-Zadeh, and Mohammad-Hossein Mousavi" were also each sentenced to "five years in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "destruction of property," "one year in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order," and "one year in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers." Furthermore, two other defendants in this case, "Nima Mohammadi and Alireza Aslami," whose citizenship is unclear, have also been sentenced to "expulsion from Iran" as an additional punishment. Five defendants in this case are also facing charges of "semi-intentional murder." Details of the sentences for these individuals are also mentioned in this report, stating that Qasem Mohammadi was sentenced to "six years in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "destruction of property," "16 months in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order," "16 months in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers," and "payment of full blood money for one human and 40 months in prison" for the charge of "semi-intentional murder." Additionally, defendants "Erfan Zarif Ibn Kazem, Jalal Nasrollahi, Gholam-Hossein Hashemi Siawashani, and Masoud Parchami" were also sentenced to "six years in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "destruction of property," "16 months in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order," "16 months in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers," and "payment of one-fourth of the full blood money for one human and 40 months in prison" for the charge of "semi-intentional murder." Furthermore, the court sentenced "Hamid-Reza Nazr and Hossein Behzadi" to "42 months in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "destruction of property," "one year in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order," and "one year in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers." According to the court ruling, defendants "Mohammad-Ali Delkhah, Milad Abol-Vafaee, Mohammad Khan-Mirzaei, Kamran Nadi-Ali, Alireza Nazari, Ali Mousavi, and Majid Karimi Fattah-Abad" were also each sentenced to "16 months in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order" and "16 months in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers." The ruling for "Hassan Malekshahi, Ashkan Kafi, Omid Astaneh, Rahman Alipour, and Ali Sadeqi Shirsavar" was also "one year in prison and 74 lashes" for the charge of "disruption of prison order" and "one year in prison" for the charge of "disobedience and rebellion against officers." These prisoners, who faced complaints from the prison organization following the fire on the evening of October 15, 2022, are currently serving their sentences related to their previous cases in Tehran's Grand Prison and Qazal-Hesar Prison. According to a previous report by HRANA, the judge rejected the lawyers of these defendants, and during the court session held on June 19, Ramin Safarnia, a lawyer for some of them, was "expelled from the session and only written defenses" from the defendants were accepted. The fire in Evin Prison occurred amid heightened tensions in this Tehran prison during the nationwide protests of 2022. During this fire, gunfire and explosions were heard, and several prisoners were injured and lost their lives. Pouran Nazemi, a human rights activist in Iran, at that time told Voice of America based on reports from inside Evin Prison that officials shot at prisoners trying to escape from the fire and smoke.