Human rights groups say Iran’s decision to uphold and schedule the execution of three protesters is unfair and should be repealed.
Iran’s judiciary announced on Tuesday that a court had upheld death sentences for three people linked to deadly protests last November.
It is the first statement by Tehran on the trial of protesters Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi.
The sentences were “confirmed by the Supreme Court after the defendants and their attorneys appealed”, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
But reported discrepancies in the case and mistreatment of defendants while in detention is prompting human rights groups to call on Iranian authorities to repeal the sentences.
The executions are expected to be carried out in days.
Amnesty International urged Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to revoke the rulings.
“Iran’s Khamenei must quash the death sentences of protesters Amirhossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi and Mohammad Rajabi immediately,” Amnesty tweeted.
“Their trial was unfair and they said they were subjected to torture through beatings, electric shocks and being hung upside down.”
Iran’s @khamenei_ir must quash the death sentences of protesters—Amirhossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi & Mohammad Rajabi—immediately! Their trial was unfair & they said they were subjected to torture through beatings, electric shocks and being hung upside down. #اعدام_نکنید
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) July 14, 2020
Human Rights Watch also called for an immediate repeal of the decision.
“Iran’s version of ‘accountability’ is apparently sentencing people involved in protests in unfair trials rather than investigating the overwhelming evidence of security forces’ excessive use of force and the hundreds of protesters who were shot dead,” wrote Tara Sepehri Far, HRW’s Iran researcher.
The defendants had only restricted access to lawyers and authorities tortured or abused them for coerced confessions, Ms Far said.
These sentences have been issued on vaguely defined national security charges, and defendants have had restricted access to lawyers and alleged that the authorities tortured or abused them to produce coerced confessions.
— Tara Sepehri Far (@sepehrifar) July 14, 2020
On social media, Iranians were using the hashtag “don’t execute” to protest against the decision.
Many Iranians are using the hashtag #اعدام_نکنید , or 'don't execute', to protest death sentences for 3 men arrested in November crackdown on anti-establishment protests. The 3 have been sentenced to death despite what has been described as serious flaws in the court's ruling.
— Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) July 14, 2020
In response to the social media commotion, authorities in Iran reportedly disrupted access to the internet on Tuesday evening.
An internet monitoring organisation confirmed the disruptions and measures to limit communications online in the country.
Confirmed: Significant disruption to multiple networks in #Iran after 5 p.m. UTC (9:30 p.m. local time); real-time network data show significant impact to subscriber internet lines limiting citizens' ability to communicate; incident ongoing 📉 pic.twitter.com/XZ1rNXgRHB
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) July 14, 2020
The three men were arrested last November during widespread protests in Iran.
A sharp rise in subsidised petrol prices led to four days of unrest in cities and towns across Iran, in which Amnesty said more than 300 people were killed in clashes with police and security forces.
In 2019, the rights group ranked Iran as the world’s second for the number of executions carried out.
It estimated that Iran executed at least 251 people that year.
Source » thenational