Three protesters face death in Iran, in year of more than 200 executions

By Miriam Berger, The Washington Post, May 17, 2023 at 4:52 p.m. EDT

Cars and crowds gathered outside Dastgerd prison in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Sunday night, in the hopes that their demonstration could halt the execution of three men facing death on charges connected to the anti-government protests that began last year and swept the country.

Days earlier, Iran’s state broadcaster had aired footage of the harried-looking men — Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi — appearing to confess and incriminate one another. Rights groups said the statements, which authorities often air ahead of executions, were very likely given under torture or duress.

The men survived the night. But the executions, for which authorities have not publicly provided a date, are thought to be imminent. The three are not alone: In response to the protests, Tehran has wielded the threat of capital punishment to crack down on and deter dissent, local and international rights groups say, amid a spate of executions in 2023 — at least 209 in just five months, according to the United Nations.

Executions overall were on the rise in Iran last year, according to human rights group Amnesty International’s annual report on global executions, released this week — a trend that appears set to continue.

Since December, Iran has executed four men for alleged crimes committed during the protests. Forty have been charged with capital offenses and the Supreme Court has upheld eight cases, the Isfahan ones included, according to Skylar Thompson, the head of global advocacy and accountability at HRANA, a Virginia-based activist news agency focused on Iran.

The three men are accused of fatally shooting two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij volunteer force, and one police officer, on Nov. 16, 2022, during the height of the “women, life, freedom” movement that erupted this fall amid protests rejecting clerical rule. The ordeal became known as the Isfahan House case after a historical site close to the alleged attack.

The three men were arrested on Nov. 21. After a swift trial, one of the judges most associated with sentencing protesters to hang found them guilty of “waging war against god,” a charge that can merit the death penalty under Iran’s legal system, which is based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Advocates say the government did not present credible evidence of a connection between the defendants and the bullets and guns allegedly used in the killings, or a consistent account of the central facts of the case. The defendants were reportedly denied access to a lawyer of their choosing — as is the norm in Iran’s Revolutionary Courts, which serve as a parallel legal system to protect the Islamic republic.

Soon after the trial, Kazemi called his mother from Isfahan’s Dastgerd prison and told her they were tortured and forced to confess, according to the family. “We were told to say these things in court all of it under torture. I did not have any gun or do anything,” Kazemi told his fiancee, according to a recording of the call obtained by HRANA, which The Washington Post has not verified independently. A judge upheld the ruling in early May.

On Monday, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, said that his institution would use “the utmost decisiveness and speed of action” in cases of killed Iranian security forces, according to comments carried by state media outlets. He did not directly address the Isfahan case.

Before his arrest, Kazemi, 31, had a business making copper kitchenware, according to news reports. Mirhashemi, 36, is a karate champion and bodybuilder instructor. Yaqoubi, 38, worked at a real estate company and was the sole caretaker of his elderly parents, Thompson said.

More than 20,000 people were arrested and at least 500 people killed during the anti-government protest movement that swept Iran for months after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September, in the custody of the country’s so-called morality police. Iranian authorities have released many protesters starting in February but have simultaneously stepped up enforcement of mandatory hijabs for women.

In tandem with the ongoing political repression, Iran has carried out this year a “frightening” spate of executions unrelated to the protest movement, mainly of men from minority communities charged with drug offenses, U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said in a recent statement. The country’s more than 200 executions this year form an “abominable record” amounting to about 10 people killed each week, in a country among those leading the world in executions.

Exact figures are likely higher yet impossible to determine: there is little transparency around charges, trials and the outcomes of these cases. Families of those executed or on death row are often under extreme government pressure to stay silent.

Last year, Iran executed at least 576 people, an increase of 83 percent from the previous year’s record of at least 314 people, according to the Amnesty International report.

The recent “alarming surge in executions” is part of a broader pattern of impunity that’s been ongoing for years, said Thompson. Individual cases often draw international attention for a period, she said. But executions continue “because of a complete lack of accountability.”

“In the meantime, people’s lives hang in the balance,” she said.

Alarming Surge in Executions in Iran: At Least 45 Executions in Seven Days

Over the past week, at least 45 prisoners, including two women, have been executed in various Iranian prisons for drug-related crimes and murder, marking a growing trend of execution in the country. HRANA has compiled a statistical analysis of the details of the executions during this period.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, there has been a noticeable increase in the execution of prisoners in Iranian prisons over the past week.

Based on the reports compiled by HRANA, the death sentences were carried out in several prisons, including Rajai Shahr (Karaj), Ghezel Hesar (Karaj), Urmia, Ardabil, Dastgerd (Isfahan), Vakilabad (Mashhad), Neishabur, Torbat-e-Jam, Rasht, Yazd, Birjand, Qazvin, Minab, Bandar Abbas, Zahedan, Khorramabad, and Iranshahr.

Out of the 45 executed prisoners, 29 were convicted of drug-related charges, while at least 15 were executed for murder.
At least 19 death-row prisoners were also transferred to solitary confinement in Salmas, Urmia, Khorin, Ghezel Hesar (Karaj), Yazd, Bandar Abbas, Birjand, and Zahedan, which could be a prelude to their execution. HRANA is investigating their fate, and the statistics presented in this report could increase.

As of the time of writing, most of these executions have not been announced by official sources or media inside Iran.

The issuance and execution of death sentences violate the right to live and have been heavily criticized by international organizations, with Iran ranking first globally in execution rate per capita.

In 2022, the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran registered 457 reports on the execution of 565 people and death sentences for 92 people, six of whom were sentenced to be hanged in public. Of these 565 executions, two death sentences were carried out in public, and five were juvenile offenders who were under 18 years old at the time of committing the alleged crime.

At least 192 people, including 8 women, have been executed in Iran from January 1 to May 5. The majority of these executions were for drug-related offenses and murder. Moreover, 71 death sentences were issued, and 27 other sentences were confirmed by the Supreme Court.

The breakdown of charges for these executions is as follows: 122 individuals were executed for drug-related offenses, 59 for murder, 6 for undisclosed charges, 1 for adultery, 1 for ideological charges, 1 for corruption, 1 for Moharebeh (political security), and 1 for non-political Moharebeh.

Skylar Thompson, the head of Global Advocacy and Accountability of Human Rights Activists, stated that “the surging rate of executions in Iran illustrates an utter disregard for human life. Under no circumstance does the ongoing use of the death penalty, for drug-related offenses in particular, amount to what is permittable under international law. Iranian authorities have an absolute obligation to uphold international human rights standards and instead, there is ongoing impunity for grave violations of the right to life–and more. The international community must not delay in sounding the alarm, they should call for a stay of executions for those currently facing execution and a moratorium on the death penalty, at a minimum, for crimes not amounting to “most serious” under international law.”

November 2019 Protester In Iran Sentenced To Death

12/5/2021
Author: Maryam Sinaee

A protester accused of shooting a Special Riot Force commander in Mahshahr, southern Iran in the nation-wide November 2019 protests has been sentenced to death.

The foreign-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported Friday that authorities informed the family of Abbas Shelishat (Driss), 45, that he has been sentenced to death on a number of charges including taking up arms against the Islamic Republic and shooting a commander of the Special Anti-Riot Forces, Reza Sayyadi, during protests in Mahshahr in November 2019.

A source close to the family told HRANA that the judicial authorities gave a verbal notice of the sentence to the family four months ago and have since refused to provide any official confirmation of the sentence to them or Shelishat’s two lawyers who have also not even been allowed to read the case files.

The Judiciary has also sentenced several others to death for the protests in November 2019 including three young men whose death sentences have been confirmed by the Supreme Court but not carried out yet.

Abbas Shelishat, sentenced to death. Undated photo

Abbas Shelishat, sentenced to death. Undated photo

Shelishat’s brother, Mohsen, who has also been accused of complicity in the killing of the anti-riot officer, has been sentenced to life in prison, the family have said.

Karim Dahimi, Iranian Arab activist, told Iran International Saturday that this case has been sent to the Supreme Court for approval. According to Dahimi, a second expert has testified to the court that Shelishat could not be responsible for the killing of the officer as Shileshat’s position at the time of the killing made it impossible for him to shoot the officer in the back.

Sources close to the family have told HRANA that Shelishat’s wife died of a brain stroke after finding out about the sentence. In the past four months the family apparently kept the news of the death sentence secret waiting to get official confirmation.

A few weeks after the protests, the state-run television aired a video of Shileshat and other prisoners whose faces were obscured and presented as “confessions of armed terrorists”. The state media described the Mahshahr protesters as terrorists and Arab separatist groups.

In the video, a man allegedly Shileshat, said with his brother’s complicity he had shot an officer in a green uniform during the protests from the roof of his house.

In the same program, two other prisoners spoke about the events at the time of the killing with one of them claiming that two protesters who arrived on motorcycles shot at police officers while the officers were praying together.

The events described in the program happened during a bloody crackdown by the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces against largely unarmed protesters in the southern city of Mahshahr and its suburbs after protesters gained control of the city’s transit roads.

The port city of Mahshahr is in the oil-producing Khuzestan province and close to large petrochemical plants and other oil facilities.

The crackdown on protesters seeking refuge in the marshlands on the outskirts of the city security forces reportedly opened fire indiscriminately. The lethal attack has come to be widely referred to as the Mahshahr Massacre among Iranians.

President Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, on December 11, 2019 confirmed the reports about the killing of protesters in Mahsharhr but claimed that a group of armed individuals were responsible for the violence and shooting at both the protesters and the security forces.

Two weeks after the incident in Mahshahr, the New York Times reported that between 40 to 100 protesters were killed during the crackdown based on multiple interviews with eyewitnesses including a nurse at a hospital where the wounded were treated.

The Extra-Territorial Assassination of Mousa Babakhani


Human Rights Activists in Iran’s Spreading Justice team (HRA-SJ) has identified and profiled Sarmad Nazerfard as the individual responsible for the assassination of Mousa Babakhani in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Mousa Babakhani was a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), a known opposition party of the Islamic Republic. Nazerfard is believed to have assassinated Babakhani before fleeing to Iran.

The Assassination

According to sources close to HRA, it is believed Nazerfard was commissioned by the security services of the Islamic Republic, namely the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization.

Erbil police and third party news sources have confirmed that Nazerfard shot and killed Babakhani in an Erbil hotel on August 6th, 2021. An informed source stated to HRA-SJ, The room where Mousa Babakhani’s body was found is a room registered to Nazerfard, who is also wanted by the Erbil police.”

Sources revealed to HRA-SJ that Babakhani traveled to Erbil to meet with Nazerfard. The two were in contact the night preceding the assasination.

Nazerfard allegedly stayed at the Goli Soleimani Hotel for eight months and had been in contact with Mr. Babakhani for several years, working to gain his trust. According to Ismail Sharafi, a member of the Central Committee, Mr. Babakhani believed that Nazerfard was a friend.

Hotel staff testified that Mousa Babakhani entered the hotel on his own and reported directly to Nazerfard’s room. Nazerfard reportedly confiscated Babakhani’s personal belongings, including  his mobile phone. Sourced believe Nazerfard carried the belongings with him upon fleeing to Iran.

Nazerfard Flees to Iran

It is believed that Nazerfard entered Iran via the Iraq-Iran border at Khanaqin. According to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Security Agency, in Erbil, Sarmad Nazerfard travelled to the border town of Khanaqin after leaving Babakhani.

According to the KDP, “Nazerfard was not a member of the Peshmerga or even a member of the party and his relationship with Mousa Babakhani was not a party affiliation at all.” The source continued,  “Sarmad’s name does not exist in any of the party’s organizational records.”

Who is Sarmad Nazerfard?

Born in Baghdad, Nazerfard, immigrated to Iraq at least four years before fleeing to Iran. Kamal Karimi, a member of  leadership of the KDP, confirmed in an interview with the judiciary that the history of Sarmad Nazerfard’s presence in Erbil dates back at least four years. According to Karimi, “Sarmad Nazerfard, also known as Saman Abdi and Sarmad Abdi in Erbil, had been in friendly relations with Mr. Babakhani after arriving in Erbil and had met him regularly.”

According to Kamal Karimi, Sarmad Nazerfard regularly traveled to Iraq and Khanaqin and always claimed that he was going to Baghdad to visit his father. According to Karimi, Sarmad even told the hotelier when he was about to leave the hotel after Babakhani’s assassination that he had to go to Baghdad immediately to visit his father.

The Role of the IRGC

There is a long history of IRGC commission murders in Iraqi-Kurdistan.

A member of KDP leadership stated, “Although we do not have reliable information about Nazerfard’s relationship to Iran’s security agencies, the Revolutionary Guards have previously carried out such work, and through this agency, people from Iran are given missions.” “They have previously come to Kurdistan to carry out sabotage and assassination.” Nazerfard, and those believed to have commissioned his services must be held accountable.

Extra-Territorial Assassinations

Extra-territorial targeted killing outside of war is a violation of international human rights law prohibiting the arbitrary deprivation of life. “Iran has long practiced extra-territorial assassinations against dissidents abroad. This illegal practice of state-sanctioned targeted killing must be condemned by the international community and perpetrators must be brought to justice,” said Skylar Thompson, Senior Advocacy Coordinator at HRA-SJ.

More information on Nazerfard can be found via this link to his unique Spreading Justice profile. If you have any additional information on Nazerfard you can anonymously submit to HRA-SJ  here. 

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For media inquiries please contact HRA Senior Advocacy Coordinator Skylar Thompson at [email protected]FacebookTwitterEmailShare