Issuance of Death Sentences for 54 'Political and Security' Prisoners by the Islamic Republic

A human rights organization has published a list of 54 'security and political prisoners sentenced to death,' indicating that at least 24 individuals have been sentenced in Tehran's revolutionary and criminal courts, and 20 others in courts across the provinces of Khuzestan, Razavi Khorasan, West Azerbaijan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Kurdistan. According to a new report from the Human Rights Activists in Iran, published on Monday, January 7, the death sentences for these 'security and political' prisoners have also been confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic, and their cases have been sent to the execution branch. The report mentions prisoners including 'Varisheh Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi, Abolhasan Montazeri, Vahid Bani-Amirian, Pouya Ghobadi Bistouni, Babak Alipour, Seyed Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Mohammad Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh, Saman Mohammadi Khiyareh, Ali Obaidavi, Malek Davarshenas, Malek Ali Fadaei Nasab, Taj Mohammad Kharmali, Abdulhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdulrahman Gorgij, Eisa EidMohammadi, Farhad Shakeri, Habib Daris, Salem Mousavi, Adnan Ghabishavi, Moein Khonfari, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Ali Majdam, Mohammad Mahdi Soleimani (Mohammad Mahdi-S), Youssef Ahmadi, Ahmadreza Jalali, Abbas Daris, Mohammad Javad Vafaee Sani, Adham Narouyi, Mohammad Zeynaldini, Farshid Hassanzehi, Shahryar Bayat, Shahin Vasaaf, Nasser Bakrzadeh, Mehrab (Mehran) Abdollahzadeh, Hatam Azdemir, Hamid Hosseinzadeh Heydaranlou, Mehdi Hasani, Behrouz Ehsani, Rasool Ahmad Mohammad, Azad Shojaei, Idris Ali, Alireza Barmarzpournak, Hossein Nemati, Navid Najaran, Amir Mohammad Khush-eqbal, Alireza Kafayi, Milad Armon, Soleiman Shahbakhsh, Abdulrahim Qanbarzehi, Gorgij Abdulghani Shahbakhsh, Eidu Shahbakhsh, and Abbas Korkori (Mujahid Korkori).' The report emphasizes that many of these prisoners have been 'deprived of the right to a fair trial' and faced issues such as 'limited or no access to a lawyer and lack of transparency in the judicial process,' to the extent that 'some of them have not had access to their chosen lawyer, and despite having a chosen lawyer, judicial authorities have prevented them from meeting with their lawyers.' According to the report, 'a significant number of these prisoners, while denying the charges, have been sentenced to death in opaque and unjust processes,' and some of them 'are currently held in solitary confinement awaiting execution.' The majority of the death sentences for these 54 prisoners have been issued based on the charge of 'Baghi,' which 'in legal terms means armed rebellion or uprising against the government.' The report highlights the 'prominent role' of Abolqasem Salavati, head of Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, and Iman Afshari, head of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, in issuing these death sentences. It is also noted that the third branch of the Urmia Revolutionary Court has sentenced several prisoners, including Kolbars, to death on charges of 'spying for Israel.' In some cases, such as those of Mujahid Korkori and Hatam Azdemir, after the death sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic, parallel branches have reissued death sentences for the defendants. Additionally, Mohammad Javad Vafaee Sani, a protester sentenced to death, has been sentenced to death for the third time in the judicial process. The Human Rights Activists in Iran have emphasized that the Islamic Republic exploits the charge of 'spying' as a tool to deal with its political opponents and that 'the lack of clarity in the details and judicial process always raises doubts about the issued sentences.' Furthermore, 'lawyers for some of these prisoners have repeatedly stated that their clients have been sentenced to death in unfair judicial processes without adhering to fair trial standards.' For instance, the lawyers of Pakhshan Azizi, a prisoner sentenced to death, have stated that 'the documents submitted to the Supreme Court' indicate that 'this political prisoner had no involvement in military activities and was only engaged in humanitarian activities in the refugee camps of ISIS war victims.' Previously, various domestic and international sources have repeatedly emphasized that the issuance and execution of death sentences by the Islamic Republic in Iran is aimed at 'creating fear and terror.'