Suspension of Visits and Phone Calls and Harassment of Family; Pressure on Reza Rasayi Intensifies

On Friday, July 8, the legal advisory group 'Dadban' reported on social media platform 'X' that pressure on Reza Rasayi, a political prisoner sentenced to death, has significantly increased over the past week. Dadban cited an informed source stating that officials at Dizelabad Prison in Kermanshah have cut off Rasayi's access to phone calls with his family and in-person visits for the past week without providing any explanation for this deprivation. Meanwhile, alongside these harassing actions, pressure on Mr. Rasayi's family has also intensified. The informed source noted that 'threatening phone calls and threats of arrest against family members are among the pressures applied to Reza Rasayi's family in the past week.' Reza Rasayi, who is 34 years old, was sentenced to death for premeditated murder by the Second Branch of the Criminal Court of Kermanshah Province last October. This sentence was later confirmed by the 17th Branch of the Supreme Court at the end of December. Rasayi was sentenced for the murder of Nader Birami, the head of the intelligence department in the city of Sahneh, but he has denied the accusation. Dadban wrote that Rasayi's death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court despite numerous formal and substantive flaws in the initial ruling, including reliance on coerced confessions from defendants against each other, deliberate disregard of testimonies from several defendants in favor of Rasayi, acknowledgment of deficiencies in preliminary investigations, lack of attention to forensic expert opinions, and particularly the court's reliance on 'judicial knowledge' to prove guilt. Amnesty International warned last February about the risk of execution for this protesting citizen following the Supreme Court's rejection of Rasayi's appeal. Human rights organizations and activists have warned in recent months about the potential execution of several political prisoners, including Reza Rasayi, Mojahid Korkor, Habib Daris, and Abbas Daris. Despite widespread domestic and international protests, the Islamic Republic continues to execute prisoners. Amnesty International has called for an immediate halt to the execution of Reza Rasayi.