The Accused of Killing Mehran Samak, a Protester from Bandar Anzali, Sentenced to Qisas for the Third Time

The lawyer for the family of Mehran Samak, a deceased protester from Bandar Anzali, announced that a military court in Qazvin has once again sentenced the accused in this case to qisas (retribution) for the charge of "premeditated murder." Majid Ahmadi stated on Wednesday, April 8, in an interview with "Shargh Network," affiliated with Shargh newspaper, that this is the third time a punishment of qisas has been issued for the accused of killing Mehran Samak. Last year, following the issuance of a qisas sentence by a military court in Gilan for the accused in this case, the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, reported the annulment of this ruling by Branch 26 of the Supreme Court and the referral of the case for reconsideration to an equivalent branch. Jafar Javanmardi, the former police chief of Bandar Anzali, has been identified as the accused in this case. He was dismissed and arrested for allegedly shooting the pellets that led to the death of Mehran Samak. Hamid Samak, the father of this deceased protester, has repeatedly emphasized on his Instagram page, by sharing images of his son's bloodied body, that "I will not overlook the blood of my son, Mehran." He wrote in an Instagram post in the summer of 1402 (2023) that his son's face was targeted by "136 pellet shots" from a distance of three meters. Mehran Samak, a 26-year-old protester, was shot and killed on December 8, 1401 (November 29, 2022) while honking and celebrating after the Islamic Republic football team's loss to the U.S. national team. This case is one of the few instances where the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic have prosecuted someone accused of killing a protester. According to some estimates, during the nationwide protests of 1401 (2022) following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, over 500 people were killed, hundreds were injured, including those who suffered irreversible eye injuries, and thousands were arrested. The United Nations fact-finding committee, in a report on March 9, accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of committing "serious human rights violations" and "crimes against humanity" during the "violent suppression of peaceful protests" in 1401 (2022) and "widespread discrimination against women and girls."