When Mohammad Mehdi Karami learned of his death sentence in early December, he called his father: “They pronounced my sentence. It’s execution. Don’t tell my mother. » The 22-year-old Iranian was hanged on Saturday January 7, along with Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39 years old. The two men were arrested in early November, during a demonstration against power in the city of Karaj, 30 kilometers from the capital, Tehran. Mohammad Mehdi Karami, son of a daily worker, international karate, and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, working in a chicken coop and without family, were sentenced to death in the case of the murder of a member of the security forces, killed at the venue of the event. Fourteen other people were tried in connection with this case.
Since the start of the uprising in the country, sparked by the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini after being held in police custody for a veil “badly worn”, on September 16, 2022, the Islamic Republic of Iran executed four men in connection with the protest. At the beginning of December, Mohsen Shekari and Majid Reza Rahnavard had been hanged. According to human rights organizations, at least 80 other people, including three additional cases announced by authorities on Monday, are at risk of the same fate.
Of the four men executed, none had access to a lawyer of their choice during the trial. They were all hanged without their relatives being notified. Mohammad Mehdi Karami was executed after he had been on a hunger strike for three days to protest against his detention. “Despite his insistence and that of his relatives, Mohammad Mehdi was not authorized to sign the paper necessary to designate me as his lawyer.explains from Tehran the famous lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghassi. I intended to prepare the appeal to the Supreme Court. But they were in a hurry to execute my client. »
“The speed with which these executions took place is a way [pour le pouvoir] to stage its own control of events, Mohammad Hossein Aghassi, lawyer
Last December, Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, the lawyer whom Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini managed to appoint to appeal to the Supreme Court, recounted the torture suffered by his client during his interrogations. “While his eyes were blindfolded, his hands and feet handcuffed, he was beaten, sometimes on the head, until he passed outexplains the lawyer on Twitter, on December 12. He also spoke of Tasers being fired at different parts of his body and metal bars hitting the soles of his feet. Confessions obtained under torture have no legal value. » The two Iranians were hanged only forty days after their arrest. “The speed with which these executions took place is a way [pour le pouvoir] to stage its own control of events, but also to support its base, analysis Mohammad Hossein Aghassi. And all of this was done illegally. »
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