Nationwide uprising; The execution of three political prisoners, accused in the case known as “Khane Isfahan (Isfahan’s House))”
21-May-2023
Category: executions، Iran's Uprising 2022
May 19, 2023
News group: execution – uprising 2022 –
Breathing in Confinement: Despite the international demands to stop the execution of the accused in the case known as “Khane Isfahan”, on the morning of Friday, May 19, Majid Kazemi Sheikh Shabani, Saleh Mirhashemi Boltaghi and Saeed Yaqoubi Kurdsofla were executed in Isfahan.
According to “Breathing in Confinement” quoting Mizan News Agency, at dawn on Friday, May 19, 2022, three political prisoners, accused in the case known as “Khane Isfahan”, were executed in Isfahan.
According to the state media, on May 10, the death sentence of these three political prisoners was upheld by the Supreme Court while all three defendants announced via phone calls from prison that they had been tortured for forced confessions. It should be noted that these political prisoners were denied access to a lawyer during the whole investigations and in the court.
In recent days, massive protest rallies were held in front of Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan to prevent the execution of these three political prisoners.
The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran (Breathing in Confinement), condemning this criminal action, warns the international community that their inaction encourages the authorities of the Islamic Republic to continue their brutality. The inhumane and criminal actions of the authorities of the Islamic Republic must be answered decisively and deterrently by human rights entities, the UN Human Rights Committee and Western Countries.
A summary of the case of these political prisoners
In the video of the forced confession of these prisoners went on air by the official media of the Islamic Republic, the accused protestors say that they do not want anyone to “create a hashtag for them” or do anything to defend them. They have also been forced to support the “Instagram filtering”. In a part of this video, they say that they just realized that filtering the Instagram is necessary.
Forced confessions are obtained by the security authorities of the Islamic Republic to justify their crimes and the execution of protesters and opponents.
According to reports, Saleh Mirhashmi was kept in solitary confinement for 45 days and was forced to confess after his sister was taken hostage.
Majid Kazemi, the second accused in thecae, also confirmed in a phone call from prison that he had been tortured to make false confessions.
Majid Kazemi said: “I haven’t done anything wrong; I was under torture after the arrest. I didn’t have a gun, I didn’t have anything, I didn’t have anything to do with this case. They beat me a lot and asked: ‘is this gun yours?’ I said yes, this gun is mine. They said you have to recreate the crime scene; I said I will. They beat me again and said that you should say this in the court, I said ok, I will say it.”
While Majid was incarcerated, his brother Hossein Kazemi also was arrested and severely tortured in order to force Majid to confess. According to the news, after the execution of these defendants, Hossein Kazemi, Majid’s brother, was released following two months with broken ribs and teeth.
The tortures of these defendants were so severe that the sings and scars of torture were obviously visible in their second court hearing.
All the protesters arrested in the “Khane Isfahan” case were detained for months and were denied the right to access the lawyers appointed by them until after their death sentences were issued. In this case, 9 people were arrested, the names of six of them are: “Majid Kazemi Sheikh Shabani”, “Saleh Mirhashmi Boltaghi”, “Saeed Yaqoubi Kurdsofla”, “Amir Nasr Azadani”, “Sohail Jahangiri” and “Jaber Mirhashmi”. There is no information about the identity of the other three detainees.
In this case, held in 4 sessions, the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan sentenced Saleh Mirhashmi Boltaghi, Majid Kazemi Sheikh Shabani and Saeed Yaqoubi Kurdsofla to death as well as 10 years in prison on the charge of “Moharebeh”.
The fourth defendant Amir Nasr Azadani, a football player, was sentenced to 5 years in prison on the charge of “membership in illegal groups with the intention of disrupting the national security”, and to 5 years in prison, for the charge of “assembly and collusion leading to crimes against national security”, and to 16 years in prison for the charge of “complicity in Moharebeh”.
Suhail Jahangiri, the fifth defendant, was sentenced to 2 years in prison, taking into calculation the days he spent in detention, for the charge of “assembly and collusion leading to crimes against the security of the country”.
Jaber Mirhashmi, the sixth defendant was acquitted.
At least 50 political prisoners arrested in connection with recent protests are at risk of death sentence or have received death sentence. Stopping executions should be the priority of all Western Countries and human rights organizations in their relations with the authorities of the Islamic Republic.