The Execution of Bahman Varmaziyar Was Carried Out After a One-Day Halt

The prosecutor of Hamadan Province announced the execution of Bahman Varmaziyar, a young suspect in an armed robbery case, whose execution was halted yesterday due to a 'judicial issue.' According to ISNA news agency on Wednesday (April 29), Kamran Hamzeh stated that Varmaziyar was executed early this morning in Hamadan prison. Hamzeh mentioned that the execution took place after the 'judicial issue' was resolved. This judicial official and others from the judiciary did not provide any explanation regarding which 'judicial issue' caused the one-day halt of this sentence. Bahman Varmaziyar was a young suspect in an armed robbery of a jewelry store in Hamadan. He surrendered to the police 18 days after the robbery, which occurred four years ago involving him and three others, and expressed remorse for his actions. The halt of his execution, which was scheduled for Tuesday morning, raised speculations on social media that the delay was 'based on orders from high-ranking officials.' However, the Hamadan prosecutor denied this and described the reason for the postponement as 'only the existence of a judicial issue.' Varmaziyar was executed while some human rights activists believed that due to his voluntary surrender to the police and his repentance, he did not deserve the death penalty. Although the Hamadan prosecutor refrained from explaining the 'judicial issue' in Varmaziyar's case, Hassan Shamshadi, a journalist from state television, also described the issuance of the death sentence for this young man as 'contrary to legal standards' in a legal text shared on his Telegram channel. The remorseful young man's mother had made numerous efforts over the past four years to obtain a pardon or a reduction of her son's sentence. Recently, she had announced on social media that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had pardoned Bahman Varmaziyar, which the Hamadan prosecutor denied. The day before, Mrs. Varmaziyar, in a post showing that she had suffered a nosebleed upon hearing the news of her son's early execution, while in a poor mental and physical state, had asked the public to join her in saving her son's life. In addition to Varmaziyar's family, human rights activists also called for the halt of his execution through a Twitter storm and gatherings abroad. The execution of Bahman Varmaziyar was carried out while, according to Amnesty International's annual report, Iran remained the second country in the world in terms of high execution rates with 507 executions last year. The report stated that without counting China, 84% of the world's total executions occurred in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan. Amnesty International also stated that the judicial proceedings for many individuals sentenced to death in Iran were 'unfair' and their confessions were obtained under 'torture.' The execution of four juvenile offenders (individuals who were under 18 at the time of the crime) and the carrying out of 31 death sentences in public in Iran were other issues mentioned in this report.