The Supreme Court Confirmed Death Sentences of 3 Ahwazi Young Men
19-June-2016
Category: ethnic minorities
Breathing in Confinement – The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of three young men from Ahwaz.
According to the information obtained by “Breathing in Confinement,” the death sentences of three young men from Ahwaz, namely Gheis Obeidavi, 26, graduate of law and his brother Ahmad Obeidavi, 21, and their cousin Sajjad Belavi (Obeidavi), a law student, all three from Hamidieh, were confirmed by the Supreme Court.
The Moj news website quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, spokesman for Iran’s Judiciary, and said that Iran’s Supreme Court had approved the issued death sentences for three men accused of attacking police officers in Hamidieh.
He told the website that the case was referred to the Supreme Court after the verdict was issued by the court and was objected by the defendants and then based on “the final verdict of the Supreme Court, the death sentences were issued for these three inmates.”
According to local human rights sources, 4 days after three police officers were killed in the Gamboeh Park near the town of Hamidieh on April 2, 2015, the Intelligence Office in Ahwaz attempted arbitrary arrests in Hamidieh and arrested these three men along with 17 other activists.
After some time, 13 persons were released on the bail and some of them were acquitted.
Seven of these people were severely tortured in the intelligence detention center and were sentenced to long-term imprisonments or death.
During the trial, Ghais Obeidavi and his brother Ahmad Obeidavi, and their cousin Sajjad Belavi (Obeidavi) were sentenced to death and Mohammad Halfi to 35 years imprisonment in the city of Yazd, Mahdi Moarebi to 25 years and Ali Obeidavi to 25 years imprisonment and their sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court.
According to the same sources, these people who are all 21 to 26 years old, were charged with acting against national security and enmity against God and corruption on earth by participating in the killing of a drug dealer in the city of Hamidieh in 2014, the attack on police station and adjacent to the palace of Sheikh Abdul Hamid in 2013 and wounding two officers, destruction and burning of machinery and equipment belonged to the Oil Company in 2013, attacking convoys of “Rahian-e-Noor” at Samenalaemeh Headquarters in 2015, killing Gaate Obeidavi, government affiliate, and wounding a clerical in 2011, formation of Fatehin Group, and recently attacking the police checkpoint in the Gaboieh on April 2, 2015, by the Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz while they refused all the accusations and announced that they had been forced to confess under severe tortures.
During the trial, the security forces put pressure on the relatives of the victims to file a complaint in the court against the inmates, but they refused to attend the trial, and only one family was present at the trial.
According to a source close to the families of the defendants, judicial authorities in Ahwaz had asked their families to leave Hamidieh city, and some of the families had moved to Sayahi area in Ahvaz, but now they are asked to leave the entire region.
Chief Justice and the Public Prosecutor of Ahwaz had accused all detainees of waging war on God and told they would be executed in the public, to facilitate sentences and executions.