Death sentence upheld by Iran's Supreme Court for three protestors

The Supreme Court of Iran has upheld death sentences for protestors who were arrested during protests in November 2019, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor.

A lawyer involved in the case confirmed the death sentence in June, for Saeed Tamjidi, Amir-Hossein Moradi, and Mohammad Rajabi. The three had received lashes, prison sentences and a death sentence from the Revolutionary Court after numerous charges were laid against them.

At the time, it was not officially announced that the Supreme Court had decided to confirm the death sentences.

In a social media post on July 10, Mostafa Nili—a lawyer of one of the defendants—tweeted, “Unfortunately, the death sentences issued for my clients were upheld by the Supreme Court despite our appeals. To this day we have not been allowed access to the files and the case.”

He added that the verdict can be appealed.

Gholam-Hossein Esmaeili, the Judiciary spokesman denied that the decision had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

In February, the three men were sentenced to death in the Revolutionary Court under judge Abolqassem Salavati.

Salavati is notorious for issuing death sentences for regime descendants and political prisoners.

Salavati was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in Dec. 2019, for “censorship or other activities that prohibit, limit, or penalize the exercise of freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Iran.”

During a press conference on Feb 18, 2020, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson said the three men in their 20s were “riot leaders” who “set fire to banks and petrol stations (during the November 2019 protests) and had filmed their criminal acts and sent the videos to foreign media.”

Additionally, the men were sentenced to 38 total years in prison along with 222 lashes related to “armed robbery” and other charges connected to previous incidents.

Amnesty International called the January 2020 trail for the three men grossly unfair.

Saeed Tamjidi, 27, and Mohammad Rajabi, 25, were arrested and held in detention on Dec. 28. 2019. They were also subject to torture including being hung upside down and beaten.

Moradi, 25, was arrested after state security forces obtained CCTV footage during the protests. The Ministry of Intelligence & Security then held him in a detention centre in Tehran for a week before he was transferred to Evin prison where he stayed for a month. He was then tortured with electric shock treatment, beatings and other forms of ill-treatment.

Each of the prisoners could not access a lawyer while the investigation is ongoing which raises concerns about due process in Iran’s courts.

The three men’s attorneys have now asked for permission to investigate and study the cases so they can properly defend them.