In response to protests on social media, Tehran suspends the execution of three activists
Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi had been convicted for involvement in the November protests against inflationary cost of living. The Persian hashtag #do_not_execute used 7.5 million times in a few hours. Activists and NGOs speak of a farce trial, with confessions obtained by force.
Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Following the mounting protest campaign on social media, the Iranian authorities have reportedly suspended the imminent execution of three anti-government demonstrators, protagonists of the protests against the high fuel last November.
The use of the conditional is a must, because at the moment there are no official communications yet, but well-informed sources report that Tehran would have stopped the executioner's hand and the condemned could see the sentence commuted.
The Persian hashtag # do_not_execute was used 7.5 million times in a few hours, after the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence on July 14. Many prominent personalities and celebrities also joined the campaign, promoting its spread
Judicial sources speak of a new trial, which should be held in the coming weeks. The three men were arrested in November during demonstrations against the government and religious leaders of the Islamic Republic, which were then forcibly repressed by the authorities at the cost of hundreds of victims.
The judges also told lawyers representing Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi, all of whom are less than 30 years old, that they will be able - for the first time since the start of the trial - to consult the papers that indict them and the evidence in support of the charges.
After China, Iran is the second country in the world for the number of executions, which have not stopped even during the coronavirus pandemic, which in Iran has caused almost 265 thousand infections and over 13 thousand victims.
On July 14, two men were executed in Urumieh prison, in the province of West Azerbaijan: Diaku Rasoulzadeh and Saber Sheikh Abdollah, 20 and 30 years old, had been on death row since 2015, convicted of having placed a bomb during a military parade in Mahabad in 2010. According to their lawyer, no evidence against them emerged during the trial, except for some confessions extracted by force and following torture.
International activists and NGOs also talk about the sham trial for the three activists convicted following the November protests. Torture, mistreatment and forced confessions, they add, are also in this case the basis of the conviction of young people. They suffered beatings with sticks and electric shocks; they were hung upside down, and abused on the charge of being "enemies of God".
Among the stars who joined the campaign are footballer Masoud Shojaei, who appealed directly to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi. Actor Shahaab Hosseini spoke of the prophet's "care and compassion", which are the criteria to be followed to "stop the execution of these three young people".
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25/07/2022 11:20
