Iran | Additional Report on the Execution of Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd

Iran Human Rights (IHR); July 20, 2020: While the Islamic Republic’s judiciary claims that Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd was executed this morning, independent sources confirm that the prisoner accused of "espionage" was executed on Saturday morning and that he was repeatedly tortured in detention by Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to Iran Human Rights, officials report that he was executed this morning, when in fact, Mahmoud (Seyed Kazem on his birth certificate) was in fact executed on Saturday, July 18.

An informed source has told IHR that several high-ranking IRGC officials, including the commander of the Greater Tehran "Mohammad Rasoolullah" IRGC base, were present at his execution. On Friday, July 17, the day before his execution, prison administrators and officials visited the halls, especially the ones holding political and ethnic minority prisoners. This is while only the guards are usually in prison on Fridays.

Mahmoud had told his cellmates that he had been arrested in Syria and transferred to the Syrian intelligence service. He was then handed over to Hezbollah in Lebanon, where he “endured severe torture at the hands of Hezbollah”. He was subsequently handed over to the IRGC, who after severely torturing him, forced him to make a self-incriminating confession on camera.

According to the documents in his prison file, Mousavi-Majd was arrested on October 9, 2018, and brought to prison on 26 January 2019, on the order of Branch One of the Shahid Moqaddas Prosecutor's Office.

He was being held in Ward 2A of Evin Prison, where he described being "severely tortured." Mahmoud's cellmates confirm that various parts of his body were bruised and burnt. After being transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison, he spent 27 days in solitary confinement. They said he was visibly thinner than the photos published by the media, and that the burn marks on various parts of his body were completely visible. There were numerous bruises and burns on his back, ribs, legs and thighs, which he said were caused by high-voltage electric shocks. He also told his cellmates that electric shock was used on his testicles, which had caused problems with his urethra. He had told his cellmates that parts of the wounds, burns and torture marks related to his time in Ward 2A of Evin Prison, inflicted by IRGC forces in 2018, and the others from the 27 days he spent in solitary confinement at Rajai Shahr Prison.

Upon his transfer to Rajai Shahr Prison, Mahmoud was denied an initial examination by health officials, which is routinely performed on all newly arrived prisoners. After being questioned by the prisoners' representative, who is responsible for introducing new prisoners to the medical facilities, the head of the department simply said: “we were told he didn’t require an examination.”

Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd was held in Ward 10, Hall 35 of Rajai Shahr Prison until Thursday, July 16. On Thursday night, he was summoned to the warden’s office and transferred to Ward 8, known as the "IRGC Ward" in Rajai Shahr Prison. On Saturday morning, he was transferred from the same ward to the gallows to be executed. This is while prisoners are usually held in solitary confinement in Ward 5 the night before their execution.

It should be noted that the "IRGC ward" is used jointly by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC.

A source told Iran Human Rights that Mahmoud was “crying and saying, I swear, I’m innocent. I swear they framed me, I’m innocent” as he was being taken to the gallows from Ward 8.

Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd was sentenced to death by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

The source also told IHR that Reza Askari was executed on Saturday 11th July in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, July 20, 2020

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