Second Death Sentence for Government Forces; 'Retribution' Ruling for Police Officer in Alireza Khoshkar Shooting Case

Reza Shafakhah, a lawyer, stated that the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has sentenced a police officer to retribution for the shooting of Alireza Khoshkar Bayati during the suppression of protests in 2021, on the eve of the second anniversary of the nationwide protests. This is the second death sentence issued by the Islamic Republic for government forces related to the crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police in September 2021. On Tuesday, September 20, Mr. Shafakhah wrote on social media platform 'X' that 'the ruling for the case of Alireza Khoshkar Bayati' has been issued. According to him and based on the ruling of Branch 10 of the Tehran Criminal Court, 'the police officer accused of murdering' this protester was 'sentenced to retribution' and was also sentenced to one year for 'false reporting' and three years for 'misuse of military equipment.' Shafakhah emphasized that the issuance of the ruling against the police officer who shot Mr. Khoshkar Bayati was due to the efforts of Niloufar Davoodi, the wife of the deceased protester. Ms. Davoodi had previously, coinciding with Valentine's Day, brought romantic gifts to the grave of Alireza Khoshkar Bayati and stated in a video message: 'Love as much as you can.' In addition to the retribution ruling for the officer who shot Alireza Khoshkar Bayati, the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic recently upheld a military court ruling in the case of Mohammad Jameh Bozorg, another victim of the 2021 protests, which sentenced a Basij member to death and two guards to a total of nine months in prison. Lawyers for the Jameh Bozorg family announced that the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling of the military court. Furthermore, in April of this year, after the lawyer for the family of Mehran Samak, another protester killed in Anzali, announced that a military court in Qazvin had sentenced the accused in this case to retribution for the third time, the news was confirmed by the judiciary. The security news agency 'Fars' reported that the case of Mehran Samak is under review again due to what it called 'multiple deficiencies.' It was noted that the death sentence for Jafar Javanmardi, the police commander in Anzali, is not final and will be re-examined. Meanwhile, Iranian judicial authorities have executed several detained protesters, including Mohsen Shekari, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, Mohammad Hosseini, Majidreza Rahnavard, Reza Rasayi, Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi, Saleh Mirhashimi, and Mohammad Qobadlu, with many others still facing the death penalty. This occurs amid international human rights organizations and Iranian human rights activists repeatedly emphasizing the unfair and show trials held for executed protesters, labeling these executions as 'government killings.'