Blatant Violation of Due Process: Supreme Court Rejects Fourth Request for Retrial of Political Prisoners Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani
13-July-2025
Category: Prisoners
13 July 2025
News Category: Prisoners
Breathing in Confinement – The Supreme Court of Iran has rejected, for the fourth time, the request for retrial filed on behalf of Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo, two political prisoners sentenced to death.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Amin Adel Ahmadian, the lawyer representing Mehdi Hassani, announced:
“The retrial request for Mr. Mehdi Hassani was denied by the Supreme Court without obtaining the original case file from the primary court and, it seems, without even reviewing my written defence. I have not been granted access to study my client’s file to this day.”
According to received reports, the fourth retrial request for Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo was also rejected by the Supreme Court under similar circumstances.
Previously, three earlier retrial requests in the case of Mehdi Hassani had been denied by Branch 29 and other branches of the Supreme Court. Ahmadian had earlier stated on the social media platform X that the proceedings have violated fundamental principles of fair trial and the right to defence, since the lawyer was not permitted to review the case file at any stage of the legal process.
The repeated rejections of retrial requests, without observing the procedural and substantive requirements of due process — including failure to obtain the original file from the lower court, disregarding the defence briefs submitted by the lawyer, and denying the right of review and defence — are clear violations of legal principles such as the right to defence, impartial adjudication, and effective access to legal recourse, as recognised in both Iranian law and international human rights instruments.
This pattern not only contravenes the Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure but also reflects the political will of the authorities to carry out a sentence that may amount to arbitrary deprivation of life and could be considered a crime against humanity.
Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo were sentenced to death on 16 September 2024 by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges including “moharebeh” (waging war against God), “baghi” (armed rebellion), “corruption on earth”, and “membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization”.
Mehdi Hassani, born in 1976, is married and a father of two. He was arrested on 9 September 2022 in Zanjan while attempting to leave the country and was later transferred to Evin Prison. Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo, born in 1955 in Urmia and residing in Tehran, was arrested by security forces at his home in November 2022, at the start of the nationwide protests, and taken to Ward 209 of the Ministry of Intelligence in Evin Prison.
Breathing in Confinement, while stressing that the legal proceedings against Mr. Hassani constitute a grave violation of his legal and human rights, strongly condemns the judiciary’s decision to reject the retrial and pursue the death sentence. It calls on international organisations, human rights bodies, and UN special rapporteurs to take urgent action to prevent the implementation of this unjust ruling.