The Death Sentence of Soheil Arabi for Insulting Religious Sanctities Has Been Confirmed

The website 'Kaleme' has reported the confirmation of Soheil Arabi's death sentence by the Supreme Court of Iran on charges of 'insulting religious sanctities and blasphemy.' This ruling was communicated to Mr. Arabi's lawyer on Sunday, December 2. The site described the confirmation of Mr. Arabi's death sentence by Branch 41 of the Supreme Court, presided over by Ali Razini, shortly after the initial ruling in the Criminal Court of Tehran as 'unexpected and hasty.' According to reports, Soheil Arabi was sentenced to death on September 8 in Branch 76 of the Criminal Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Siamak Modir Khorasani. According to the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran, Mr. Arabi had 'eight Facebook pages under different names' and was accused of several charges, including 'insulting the Imams and the Prophet' due to his writings on those pages. Soheil Arabi and his lawyer have denied the blasphemy charge. 'An informed source' told the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran on November 8: 'According to Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code, if a person insults the Prophet of Islam, the punishment is death. However, the following article, Article 264, clearly states that if the accused merely claims in court that the insulting remarks were made out of anger, quoting, or by mistake, his death sentence will be converted to 74 lashes.' According to this informed source, Soheil Arabi repeatedly stated in court that he wrote these materials 'under inappropriate conditions' and is 'regretful,' but 'despite these statements,' three judges sentenced him to death and two others imposed prison sentences. Reports indicate that Soheil Arabi, 30 years old, married, and the father of a five-year-old child, was arrested in November 2013 by agents of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards along with his wife. His wife was released a few hours later, but he spent two months in solitary confinement in Ward 2A of the Revolutionary Guards and was then transferred to Ward 350 of Evin Prison. According to the International Human Rights Campaign in Iran, Soheil Arabi is also facing two other cases due to his writings on Facebook, for which rulings have already been finalized. According to this campaign, he was fined 500,000 tomans and sentenced to 30 lashes for insulting Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, and Gholamali Haddad Adel, a representative of Tehran in Parliament, through his writings on Facebook, and this ruling was upheld in the appeal. He was also sentenced to three years in prison for insulting Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and 'propaganda against the regime' in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolqasem Salavati, which was also upheld in the appeal.