Death Penalty News

Lawyer Babak Paknia confirmed on July 31 that a court has confirmed the death sentence against Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 27-year-old boxer arrested for taking part in nationwide unrest in November 2019. Paknia said that Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court issued the death sentence in first instance, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and sent the case back to court for retrial. Last month, Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court maintained the death penalty. Paknia said he planned to file an appeal against that judgment. Who Is Vafaei Sani? He was arrested in Mashhad in March 2020 for participating in protests sparked by a governmental decision to raise gasoline prices and in demonstrations over the January 2020 downing of a Ukrainian airliner by Iranian forces. He was aged 23. In the north-eastern city, Vafaei Sani holds a reputation as a boxing champion. He won the provincial title at both the elementary and adult levels. Hossein Souri, the former president of the na...

Iranian authorities have transferred the father of a protester executed in 2020 to the criminals' ward of Qazvin prison in the country’s north-west, IranWire has learned. Hossein Afkari was arrested on May 2, with the judicial or security institutions giving no reason for the move.  Political prisoners in Iran are often placed in wards with criminals and drug offenders, exposing them to danger and pressure.  There have been numerous reports of deaths of political prisoners in such settings. Afkari’s son Navid, a wrestler, was executed in September 2020 after being sentenced to death over the alleged killing of a security officer during a protest in 2008.  Navid’s two brothers Vahid and Habib were arrested with him and sentenced to long prison terms and lashes.

Mohammad Namjoo-Motlagh: 'I will remain their voice until Iran is freed from oppression' A decorated Iranian wrestler fled to Germany to avoid a possible death sentence or being blinded by the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran for his social media posts in support of the revolt against the Iranian theocratic state. The star wrestler Mohammad Namjoo-Motlagh told the US government news outlet RFE/RL's Radio Farda in late January that "It was clear where this was going" and "I would either lose my life or they would blind me, or in the best-case scenario, I would be sent to prison."

Iran uses the death penalty against dissidents to terrorize the public Dozens of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are currently on death row in Iran. These prisoners include dissidents, prisoners of conscience, as well as protesters arrested during anti-regime protests. The Iranian regime’s use of the death penalty against prisoners is intended to intimidate and prevent protests in Iran. This report lists the names of several political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who have been sentenced to death for peacefully exercised their human rights: Iran has also sentenced to death a local boxing champion over his role in 2019 protests. Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, 26, was sentenced to death after being convicted of arson and destruction of government buildings. He had been detained in February 2020 and one of the charges against him was taking part in protests in November 2019 sparked by a sudden fuel price rise. Abbas Deris, a member of Iran’s ethnic Arab minority in Kh...

In stark contrast to developed countries where athletes are honored, their situation in Iran is way below the minimum international standards. The Iranian regime ruling Iran mistreats, arrests, and executes Iranian athletes. In the regime’s dark record of human rights violations, there are numerous cases of executing athletes and national champions. No regime in human history has committed such a horrific crime against its national heroes and athletes. By sentencing to death another local boxing champion over his role in 2019 protests, the Iranian regime has once again shown that it intends to suffocate any dissent by using violence and repression, even among athletes and those who hold championship titles. Vafaei-Sani, 26, was sentenced to death after being convicted of arson and destruction of government buildings. He had been detained in February 2020 and one of the charges against him was taking part in protests in November 2019 sparked by a sudden fuel price rise. The death senten...

The death sentence issued against Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani comes just over a year after the execution of wrestling champion Navid Afkari in September 2020, which prompted an international outcry and calls for Iran to be barred from sporting events. Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said that Vafaei-Sani, 26, was sentenced to death after being convicted of arson and destruction of government buildings. He had been detained in February 2020 and one of the charges against him was taking part in protests in November 2019 sparked by a sudden fuel price rise, it said. His lawyer Babak Paknia confirmed the verdict on Twitter and announced plans to appeal to the supreme court. IHR described Vafaei-Sani as a “champion” boxer in the eastern city of Mashhad where he was currently being held. RELATED | Iran’s regime sentences boxer to death for his peaceful protest vs. corruption Social media users urged the authorities to save his life, with the hashtag #SaveMohammadJavad trending on Tw...

Iranian boxing champion Mohammad Javad was sentenced to death for protesting economic corruption in Iran, a continuation of Iran's execution spree of athletes. The clerical regime in Iran is continuing its execution spree of athletes, targeting the boxing champion Mohammad Javad for protesting the theocratic state’s economic corruption in November, 2019. The journalist and women’s rights campaigner Masih Alinejad tweeted on Saturday: “Death sentence for another athlete in Iran for the crime of protesting in Nov 2019. Mohammad Javad, 26, is a boxing champion. They sentenced him to death for ‘spreading corruption on Earth’. We couldn’t save Navid Afkari Iranian wrestler. Global athletes may help us this time.” Iranian human rights experts have noted that the charge of "spreading corruption of Earth" is frequently used against protestors and dissidents in the Islamic Republic to purge the country of any resistance against the policies of the regime's Supreme Leader, Ali ...

UN: Iran has deeply flawed judicial processes, where even most basic safeguards are absent United Nations: Iran executed more than 250 people, including at least four child offenders, in 2020 and so far this year has carried out 230 executions that included nine women and one child who was executed in secret, the UN independent investigator on human rights in Iran said on Monday. Javaid Rehman told the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee that Iran continues to implement the death penalty “at an alarming rate’’ and said “the absence of official statistics and lack of transparency around executions means that this practice escapes scrutiny resulting in serious abuses preventing accountability.’’ Rehman said his latest report highlights serious concerns over the grounds Iran uses for imposing the death penalty, such as “vague national security charges.’’ Iran also has “deeply flawed judicial processes, where even the most basic safeguards are absent,’’ he said. “These elements, a...

At dawn on Wednesday, September 29, authorities in Iran hanged Abbasgholi Salehi, 42, in Isfahan Central Prison. According to human rights activists, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a death sentence for drug-related charges. Mr. Salehi had been detained 17 years ago and spent all these years behind the bars without furlough. On Tuesday, the authorities had transferred him to solitary confinement and called his family to visit their loved one for the last time. The call prompted Mr. Salehi’s relatives and friends to rally in front of the prison, protesting the unjust execution. Around 200 people spent the night outside the prison; however, authorities hanged Mr. Salehi despite the people’s protest. The Iranian government continues executing inmates for drug-related accusations despite the Parliament (Majlis) bill, which rejected the death penalty for drug-related charges. This is flagrant hypocrisy within the Islamic Republic regime in Iran and shows that the state uses death...

Iran Human Rights (IHR); September 21, 2021: Informed sources have told Iran Human Rights that Shahin Naseri who was a witness to Navid Afkari’s torture, has died under suspicious circumstances in solitary confinement in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. His brother has confirmed his death but has not been contacted by officials. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Shahin Naseri who was serving a non-political sentence in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, has died under suspicious circumstances after he was transferred to solitary confinement. He was transferred to the prison following his testimony about wrestler and protester, Navid Afkari’s torture in Shiraz. “His friends informed us of his death in solitary confinement but we have yet to be contacted by any officials,” his brother told Iran Human Rights. An informed source told IHR: “I saw Shahin Naseri’s corpse in the prison infirmary. He had repeatedly talked about Navid Afkari’s torture and forced confessions. ...

Iran Human Rights (IHR); September 12, 2021: A year has passed since protester and wrestler, Navid Afkari was executed after being denied due process, tortured to make false confessions, and subjected to a grossly unfair trial. Iran Human Rights considered his execution to be unlawful and a criminal act, and called for action beyond just condemnations by the international community. A year on, Iran Human Rights reiterates its call on the international community to hold the perpetrators of Navid Afkari’s state murder accountable. The perpetrators include Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Ebrahim Raeisi, then Head of Judiciary and current President; the judges in his case; as well as the interrogators who tortured him and prison officials.   IHR Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “They executed Navid to instil fear in society in order to prevent further protests, not realising that he would become the people’s champion and that his voice would be hear...

The Islamic Republic of Iran inaugurated its eighth president on August 5. Ebrahim Raisi, the former Chief Justice and head of the regime's judiciary apparatus, won the presidential election on June 19 in a landslide victory. Many observers both in Iran and internationally were hardly surprised at Raisi’s victory. Leading up to the vote, the regime took all the steps it could to ensure the Chief Justice would win at the polls. Just weeks before the election, Iran’s Guardian Council, a regulatory body controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, swiftly and unilaterally disqualified the vast majority of Raisi’s opposition from the ballot, including many popular reformist candidates who had been gaining public support in the months prior. Raisi was not so much elected as he was installed. His credentials as the quintessential regime insider made him the ideal candidate as far as the Ayatollahs were concerned. Indeed, there is probably no man alive today who has contributed more to th...