Lawyers of Vrisheh Moradi, Death Sentenced Prisoner: The Verdict Has Fundamental Flaws

Lawyers of Vrisheh Moradi announced that the verdict issued against this political prisoner sentenced to death has "fundamental flaws." According to the news agency HRANA, Keyvan Azizi and Amir Sajadi stated on Thursday, November 15, that they will file a "request for appeal" against the issued verdict and emphasized that, considering the flaws in the verdict, they hope that the judges of the Supreme Court will take these issues into account and act to overturn the issued sentence. Vrisheh Moradi, a Kurdish political prisoner, is currently imprisoned on charges of "baghi" (rebellion) and was sentenced to death by a revolutionary court judge this past Sunday. According to the report, the 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Abolqasem Salavati, sentenced Vrisheh Moradi to death while he was not allowed to defend himself during court sessions. Vrisheh Moradi was arrested on July 31, 2023, in the suburbs of Sanandaj and was transferred to the women's section of Evin Prison on December 25, 2023, after completing the interrogation stages at the Ministry of Intelligence detention center known as Ward 209 of Evin Prison. The first court session addressing the charges against this political activist was held on June 17 of this year in the 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Salavati, where he was accused of membership in one of the opposition groups against the Islamic Republic and charged with baghi. On August 7 of this year, following protests from female prisoners in Evin after learning about the execution of Reza Rasayi and clashes with the prison guards, he was sentenced to six months of prison in a joint legal case with four other prisoners. Human rights media reported on Tuesday, October 30, that Vrisheh Moradi ended his hunger strike after 20 days "in respect of the requests of many activists." He had been on hunger strike since October 11, protesting his uncertainty, deprivation of visits with family and lawyer, which had been ordered by Judge Abolqasem Salavati since mid-May, and the increase in death sentences in Iran. Kaveh Kermanshahi, an official from the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, wrote on social media X on Tuesday: "According to one of the relatives of this political prisoner, he ended his hunger strike in respect of the requests of political and civil activists and organizations inside and outside the country and his fellow inmates in the women's section of Evin Prison." More than a hundred civil and political activists, on Friday, November 25, coinciding with the sixteenth day of Vrisheh Moradi's hunger strike, called for an end to his hunger strike. The deteriorating health of Vrisheh Moradi on the fifteenth day of his hunger strike in Evin Prison has raised concerns.