Another Young Iranian Protester Sentenced To Death
Human right activists say another young Iranian, who was detained during nationwide protests, has received the death sentence on vague political charges.
Human right activists say another young Iranian, who was detained during nationwide protests, has received the death sentence on vague political charges.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency HRANA reported Tuesday that Arshia Takdastan, 18, arrested in Nowshahr, has been sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court in the northern city of Sari in Mazandaran province.
The charges that have led to the death sentence are “enmity with God” and “Corruption on earth,” both vague principles in Islamic law that the regime uses to issue death sentences. Some clerics have challenged the government for using these charges against dissidents.
He has also been sentenced to six years of prison on charges of “disrupting security and inciting people to kill each other”, as well as “propaganda against the institution”. He must also serve two years in prison for “insulting the Supreme Leader”.
According to this report, his accusations are related to the protests held on September 21 in Nowshahr.
HRANA quoted an informed person as saying that “the court issued its verdict based on an accusation that he threw a bottle and a stone at a police car."
The same court on Monday sentenced another 18-year-old protester Mehdi (Shayan) Mohammadifard, to double death.
HRANA said the political prisoner was deprived of the right to have a lawyer and in the absence of his chosen solicitor, the court accused him of "directing and planning" the protest rally on September 21 in Nowshahr.
An informed source close to Mohammadifard's family said, “all the confessions by the defendant during the interrogation were obtained under duress.”
Recently, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has launched an international competition -- called "Mullahs Get Out" -- to produce caricatures of Khamenei, as a “symbol of backward-looking, narrow-minded, intolerant religious power.”
On Tuesday, French daily Le Monde published one of the cartoons, saying that Charlie Hebdo is publishing a special issue on the occasion of the eighth-year anniversary of the Paris terrorist attacks, mocking Khamenei in support of the protests in Iran. Charlie Hebdo has been the target of three terrorist attacks: in 2011, 2015, and 2020. All of them were presumed to be in response to a number of cartoons that it published controversially depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. In the 2015 attack, 12 people were killed.
“The freedom to which every human being aspires is incompatible with the archaism of religious thought and with submission to every supposedly spiritual authority, of which Ali Khamenei is the most deplorable example,” Charlie Hebdo wrote.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian censured the controversial French magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing caricatures of Khamenei, warning of an “effective and decisive response.” The satirical magazine recently launched an international competition -- called "Mullahs Get Out" -- to produce caricatures of Khamenei, as a “symbol of backward-looking, narrow-minded, intolerant religious power.”
As part of the special "January 7" issue, commemorating the anniversary of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical weekly chose to support Iranian men and women and to "beat the mullahs," Le Monde said, adding that the paper was able to view 35 drawings selected from the 300 sent to the Charlie Hebdo editorial office, including from Iran, Turkey, the United States, Senegal and Australia.
The magazine advised that a cartoon of Khamenei should be the "funniest and meanest" possible, noting that "Cartoonists and caricaturists have a duty to help support Iranians in their struggle as they fight for their freedom, by ridiculing this religious leader who represents the past and casting him into history’s garbage bin.”
“One cartoon shows Khamenei being punched with the slogan 'Women, Life, Freedom,' while another depicts a mullah being crushed under a heel. Among the very political drawings, the supreme leader is also depicted as Marilyn Monroe, whose dress is lifted by the wind of the headscarves that women have freed themselves from. In another, armed with stones, they pommel him,” Le Monde described some of the works.
Since the beginning of the current wave of protests in mid-September, Charlie Hebdo also published other cartoons of Khamenei, one of which prompted the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry to summon the French chargé d'affaires in Tehran. In the cartoon, Khamenei is depicted with bloody hands and a turban and an attire with the logo of clothing manufacturing company Nike and its motto: Just Do It.
The landscape of Iranians’ protests against the regime has never been this openly full of insults and slogans against the country’s ruler. Chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” was still a taboo until very recently even during the protests. But now, making fun of the authorities and even the dead ones – which is extremely frowned upon in Iranian society – has become a common way of protests.
In December, a famous Iranian actor lashed out at Khamenei saying at least try to be a “personable dictator”. He compared Khamenei with other dictators such as Francisco Franco, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini, saying he is “mentally ill” just like his “colleagues”.
January 3 marks the death anniversary of the commander of IRGC’s Quds (Qods) Force -- a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. He was one the most revered figures of the Islamic regime and was killed in a drone strike ordered by former President Donald Trump. His body was so mutilated in the explosion that many social media users described him as a “Cutlet” after his death, an Iranian dish resembling hamburgers mixed with potatoes. Despite extravagant ceremonies to honor his memory, Iranians are burning his banners and statues all over the country and even named January 3 as World Cutlet Day.
According to Iran's laws, those on trial for crimes against national security can only be represented in court by lawyers that have the “endorsement” of the chief justice himself. Almost all dissidents are accused of acting against national security among other crimes, such as insulting the Supreme Leader or unlawful assembly.
The restriction also applies to protesters who have been charged with "corruption on earth" or "waging war against God'' both of which bear a death sentence. Iran's revolutionary courts have sentenced more than 50 protesters to death on such charges since November.
Two protesters who were hanged in December, Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, were both deprived of the right to choose their own lawyers. They were represented at their trials by court-appointed lawyers. The two young men, apparently, met their attorneys on the day of their trial at court where the lawyers’ role was limited to keeping up appearances of a fair trial.
Iran’s Judicial system, controlled by the Supreme Leader, oversees both judges and prosecutors, while closely coordinating with security and intelligence entities.
Families of some protesters who are on trial allege that the lawyers representing their loved ones made very little effort to present a proper defense and their only statement in court was what was dictated to them by the judiciary and security agents to ensure a pre-determined outcome. The hanging of the two young men was meant to instill fear among the people and keep them away from the protests, the families and others say.
Mashallah Karami whose son Mohammad-Mehdi Karami has been sentenced to death in Alborz Province for alleged participation in the killing of a member of the Basij militia told Etemad newspaper recently that he tried to contact his son’s court-appointed “endorsed lawyer” for a week, after his sentence was announced, to proceed with appeals but never received a response from him. “The court-appointed lawyer refused to let me have the address of his office to go there and tell him what my son has told me for using it in his defense.”
“It’s a matter of life and death for a young man. Shouldn’t the family of the accused be allowed to have their own attorney?” Karami who says his son has sworn his innocence to him said.
Nemat Ahmadi, lawyer and professor of law, told Arman-e Emruz newspaper in December that some of the “endorsed” lawyers, even when appointed by the court rather than the accused, work for extremely high fees. “We heard recently that one [such] lawyer had demanded $250,000 from the family of the accused,” he said.
Ahmadi also pointed out that one of these lawyers told the judge at a recent trial, when he was asked if he had spoken with his client, that he had met his client who was hospitalized for “half an hour” before the trial.
Just a week ago, defense attorney Amir Raesian announced that authorities had finally accepted him and his colleague Roza Etemad-Ansari to represent jailed dissident Toomaj Salehi and that they would be meeting with Toomaj after reading the case files.
The lawyer’s announcement came amid international pressure on the Islamic Republic to free Toomaj who was arrested in late October. The 32-year-old popular rapper could be facing a death sentence for vague charges based on Islamic law, "corruption on earth" and "waging war against God”, brought against him.
“It’s a first and important milestone,” member of the German Bundestag Ye-One Rhie who recently accepted the rapper’s political sponsorship, tweeted about the new development in the case after the announcement.