Judiciary News Agency Reports Commutation of Death Sentence for Maulvi Khodrnejad to Imprisonment

A few days after the confirmation of the death sentence for Maulvi Mohammad Khodrnejad, a Sunni cleric arrested during the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests, the official organ of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran reported a reduction of this sentence to imprisonment. The Urmia Revolutionary Court had sentenced Mr. Khodrnejad in the fall of 2023 to death on charges of 'corruption on earth', 'acting against national security', and 'propaganda against the regime', along with an additional 16 years of imprisonment. Human rights organizations reported on June 7, 2024, that the Supreme Court had confirmed his death sentence, with Judge Ali Razini presiding. However, the Mizan news agency, the official judiciary outlet, wrote on Monday, June 10, that this Sunni cleric, 'expressing remorse and regret and committing to good behavior, was pardoned and had his sentence reduced to imprisonment following the request for clemency and the pursuit of several Sunni scholars.' The Supreme Court had confirmed Mohammad Khodrnejad's death sentence. This news agency accused Persian-language media outside Iran of 'failed attempts to execute' this cleric and wrote that 'the anti-revolutionary movement and their media tried to link this case to ethnic and religious issues despite the reality, initiating a new divisive project.' This claim comes at a time when the Iranian judiciary had issued a death sentence for this cleric, and human rights and news media only reported official and unofficial news from informed sources in this regard. Maulvi Khodrnejad was arrested two months after the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini during the morality police detention that led to the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in Iran, along with his child at his residence in the city of Boukan, West Azerbaijan province, and has been imprisoned in Urmia since then. This Kurdish cleric had recently spoken at the funeral of Asad Rahimi, one of the protesters killed in the Boukan events shortly before his arrest. Relatives of Mohammad Khodrnejad stated that the issuance of the sentence was based on 'forced confessions' obtained under 'severe torture' and the report from the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic, emphasizing that his trial was not fair. These sources indicated that this Kurdish cleric lacked a lawyer and defended himself in the brief court sessions, which totaled only four. Previously, hundreds of Sunni clerics in Iran had written a letter to Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary, emphasizing the lack of justice in the judicial process regarding Mohammad Khodrnejad's case and demanded his release. Amnesty International also warned against the execution of 15 condemned individuals, including Mohammad Khodrnejad.