Today marks the anniversary of the execution of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, two people who have been arrested in reference to the protests on Karaj’s freeway in the course of the fortieth day after the loss of life of Hadith Najafi. Their arrest was linked to the loss of life of a Basij agent named “Ruhollah Ajamian” throughout these protests, resulting in the detention and trial of sixteen folks.
Karami and Hosseini have been the first and secondary defendants within the case associated to Ajamian’s loss of life. Their preliminary trial, together with fourteen different accused, was held on 9 Azar 1401 on the first department of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj. During this trial, 5 of the defendants have been sentenced to loss of life, and the others obtained 25 years in jail. The verdicts have been later upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran, regardless of the defendants’ appeals.
The execution of Karami and Hosseini was carried out simply 4 days after the Supreme Court’s affirmation. Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, the lawyer for Mohammad Hosseini, had reported that Hosseini’s confessions have been obtained beneath torture and had no authorized validity. Mohammad Aghasi, the lawyer appointed for Mohammad Mehdi Karami, acknowledged that he was not allowed to enter the case by Judge Asif al-Hosseini, the pinnacle of department one of many Revolutionary Court in Karaj.
A report by the Follow-up Committee detailed the torture of the defendants on this case, together with being subjected to extreme mistreatment earlier than their first court docket look with out prior notification. On the day of the trial, the defendants have been reportedly made to take a seat on one leg within the chilly courtyard of the detention heart for 2 and a half hours, going through abuse for any slight motion. Later, they have been taken to the court docket in a van, unaware of their trial.
On the night time earlier than the execution, there have been studies of disruptions within the jail’s TV and telephone providers, and several other different defendants within the case have been transferred to solitary confinement. Witnesses in solitary confinement reported listening to prayers within the corridors round daybreak and witnessing uncommon exercise. Some inmates thought their execution had been cancelled attributable to deceptive statements they overheard, however the subsequent morning, they realized that Karami and Hosseini had been executed.
In this case, 4 defendants have been finally launched, whereas the others obtained jail sentences starting from three to fifteen years.