Permanent Eye Injury of a Protester; No 'Serious Determination' to Address Victims' Cases

While two protesters have been hastily executed in connection with the events of November 3, 2022, in Karaj, and several others are facing heavy judicial sentences, the lawyer of Majid Khademi, a protester who lost his eyesight, states that the judiciary has no 'serious determination' to address the cases of the injured. Majid Khademi Taher, a citizen who intended to go to the Behesht Sakineh cemetery in Karaj on November 3, 2022, during the memorial ceremony for several protesters including Hadis Najafi, was 'targeted by security forces' gunfire. The shooting occurred while he had not even managed to enter Behesht Sakineh due to 'crowding.' He is now in a condition where doctors have stated that 'the bullet cannot be removed from his eye.' The legal group 'Dadban' in a report published on Saturday, July 15, introduced Majid Khademi as holding a PhD in Chemistry and a 'drug discoverer' who has 'achieved many accomplishments in drug production and serving patients.' Following the direct shooting by security officials, 'he is now suffering from permanent eye damage, and according to doctors, the bullet cannot be removed from the depth of his eye,' and 'in addition to the loss of vision, he must also endure the pain caused by the remaining bullet.' According to Payam Darfashan, the defense lawyer for Majid Khademi Taher, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of District 3 has ordered that the case regarding this citizen's injury complaint be sent to the 'FARAJA Command Headquarters in Alborz Province,' and a responsible individual in this headquarters has ordered that 'the case be sent to the intelligence department of the Kamelshahr police station,' specifically stating 'in one of the orders, it has been implicitly requested to investigate what role Dr. Khademi played in the protests.' Payam Darfashan emphasized that 'the intelligence department of the local police,' while the vehicle of FARAJA officials was also damaged on the same date, 'essentially lacks the capability and ability to handle the matter impartially.' This lawyer also added: 'In addressing the cases of the injured, there is not only a logical order but also a serious determination to identify and remedy the damages; in other words, there is no uniform procedure in the country.' An informed source also reported to VOA about the 'passing around' of the complaint case of Hesam Maleki, an injured protester in Tehran, among various judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic. The negligence regarding the complaint case of Majid Khademi Taher comes at a time when Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, two protesters related to the case of a Basij member's death during the events of November 3, 2022, in Karaj, have been executed, and several others, including Hamid and Farzaneh Ghareh-Hosseinloo, are facing heavy prison sentences. Additionally, the Alborz judiciary stated that none of the defendants in the Ajmian case have been 'pardoned.' The failure to observe laws and judicial procedures in the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly been criticized by international human rights organizations and legal experts. Raha Bahreini, a researcher at Amnesty International, previously emphasized in an interview with VOA's Persian section that even the basic criteria for fair trials are not observed in the trials of protesters.