In collaboration with the activist group 1500Tasvir, CNN has verified paperwork, video, witness testimony and statements from contained in the nation which counsel that at the very least 43 individuals, together with Nasr-Azadani, may face imminent execution.
Authorities have already executed at the very least two individuals in reference to protests in Iran final month, one among whom was hanged publicly.
Witness testimonies and official paperwork, reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, present proof that means a rushed judicial course of in Iran; fees which may carry the demise sentence, usually handed down in a single sitting.
Nasr-Azadani is accused of involvement within the killing of three safety officers, together with two volunteer Basij militia members, throughout protests in Isfahan on November 16, Iranian state media IRNA reported final week.
According to state media, town’s chief justice, Asadullah Jafari, stated Nasr-Azadani had been charged with Baghi – or rioting in opposition to authorities. Under Iran’s penal code, the sentence carries the demise penalty.
Since then, a witness to his arrest stated they hoped Nasr-Azadani could be freed, however nonetheless visited Shahid Alikhani sq. every day to see if authorities would present up with the footballer and execute him on the scaffold. “From the day he was arrested, authorities told us he would be released by the end of the week,” the witness tells CNN.
Then the knowledge dried up. Weeks later the witness, who’s near Nasr-Azadani, says authorities instructed them that the 26-year-old could possibly be hanged at Shahid Alikhani sq..
“The thought that they could execute him any day is really very hard for us … and the daily news we keep hearing is worrisome.”
Nasr-Azadani’s household was initially unaware of the rationale for his arrest, the witness tells CNN, and officers wouldn’t share data of his situation. Those near him have been additionally warned to “keep quiet” about his case in the event that they needed to see him launched sooner, the witness tells CNN.
The court docket final week stated it obtained “video and sufficient documentation that prove he [Nasr-Azadani] is part of an armed group” and that the footballer had confessed to his crimes, state media IRNA reported.
‘I actually worry they may execute Majid’
Previous CNN investigations have discovered prisoners have been subjected to torture and sexual assault. Human rights teams say torture-tainted “confessions” have been used in opposition to the defendants in sham trials.
Iranian officers have defended the trials nonetheless. In current days, one Iranian MP stated he believes that these concerned within the present unrest have to be executed inside 5 to 10 days after their arrest. CNN acquired no official response from Iranian officers to its request for remark.
Another man, Majid Kazemi, was additionally accused of involvement within the killing of three safety forces in Isfahan, the doc obtained by CNN and 1500Tasvir exhibits. Kazemi instructed others he was coerced into confessing his involvement in legal acts throughout his interrogation.
“He did not confess to having done any of the things he was charged with, and so they beat him up severely,” a supply near Kazemi tells CNN.
A launched prisoner from the ability the place Majid is being saved instructed the supply his arm, leg and nostril have been damaged.
Majid’s court docket session is ready to happen through the vacation season, the supply tells CNN.
“This will coincide with a time in which the international community is observing these holy days, and the Islamic Republic regime will take advantage of being removed from the watchful eyes of the world.
“I actually worry they may execute Majid.”
In a recording from inside a Tehran prison, inmate Sahand Noor Mahammadzade speaks about how he was coerced into confession.” The decide that was there instructed me to say that I don’t protest (object) and gave me three pages that I signed, whereas they did not even permit me to learn any of them.
“The second time they took me in for interrogation, my charges had completely changed. That second charge levied against me contained the term ‘moharabe.'”
“They told me to go into the prosecutor’s office and upon entering he said: ‘It is evident from his face. Execute this one!'”
In a unexpectedly photographed doc from inside Isfahan regional court docket obtained and verified by 1500Tasvir and CNN, it’s revealed that at the very least 10 individuals in Isfahan have additionally been charged with Moharabe (a battle in opposition to God), spreading corruption on Earth and different fees – all of which carry the demise penalty.
The cost, launched after the 1979 revolution, is repeatedly imposed in opposition to people who find themselves accused of committing acts in opposition to the federal government.
Several different witness testimonies and official paperwork despatched by households, and collectively authenticated by CNN and 1500Tasvir, paint an image that exhibits how the Iranian regime is dashing the judicial course of.
Families and activists say solely court-appointed legal professionals are allowed to characterize defendants who’re additionally refused the proper to enchantment. And if the cost is handed down, the Iranian penal code states they might get the demise sentence in a single sitting – although not carried out instantly and most sentences are appealed.
Soheil Jahangiri is among the Iranians to obtain such a sentence. Members of his household instructed CNN they have not heard from him in over a month. They say officers didn’t allow Jahangiri an impartial lawyer.
“Judiciary officials have alluded to two charges: Baghi and Moharabe. Soheil could face either of these charges that carry the death penalty,” a member of the family stated.
“We are quite frightened that, with the beginning of the Christmas holidays and a decrease in political pressure on the government, executions will begin anew, and I think that Soheil’s life and the lives of numerous political prisoners are in danger.
“We do not wish to see our children executed whereas the media is silent,” they added.
CNN has verified that dozens of others – some of them teenagers – face similar charges in connection with the protests and are at risk of execution.
In the regional court of Khuzestan, west of Isfahan, CNN has confirmed – in conjunction with 1500Tasvir – through court documents that 23 people have been charged with crimes punishable by death.
In Karaj, near Tehran, CNN and 1500Tasvir have confirmed five more Iranians are facing execution. Among them is 21-year-old Iranian-Kurdish Karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami, whose parents have also gone public with their plea.
“Please, I urge of you to please raise the execution order from my son’s file,” his father says in a video shared to social media.
In messages shared with CNN his family says Karami was not only sentenced to death, he was tortured in prison.
In another message shared with CNN, they said that despite his alleged ill-treatment, Karami was in good spirits but “bodily broken” having suffered torture.
For those awaiting execution, the wait behind bars can be unbearable. Just this week, 27-year-old Iranian-Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin attempted suicide while in detention.
In his last music video, Yasin rapped about inequality and oppression in Iran, singing “they closed my throat violently. They banned magnificence. They reversed me like an animal. I’m not glad with silence.”
Just two days ago Yasin tried to end his life, after weeks of enduring the harsh prison conditions in northern Iran, sources in the prison told CNN.
CNN has verified that at least 43 detainees are facing execution. Statements from both Iranian officials and in Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, mention the names of those charged and show that the real number is possibly as high as 100. Many of the families, though, were too scared to speak to us directly to confirm the names mentioned in the media.
Answers to the most commonly Googled questions about COVID-19
As the year approaches its bitter end, for many Iranians their desperate pleas linger on.
In a video made public and shared with CNN, the mother of brothers Farzad and Farhad Tahazade, aged 23 and 24, sent this message to the world:
“Please hear my sons’ cries for assist. My sons are younger and so they have kids awaiting their launch. Please save them. For the love of God, save my sons.”
In Iran, a girl places herself at nice hazard by publicly talking out in opposition to authorities on behalf of her kids. But it’s a threat many mother and father really feel they haven’t any selection however to take.
