For Immediate Release Iran: Death Penalty for Protest-Related Charges Vague Charges; Allegations of Abuse and Torture (Beirut, July 10, 2020) – Iranian courts have reportedly issued or upheld at least four execution sentences since late June 2020 in connection to repeated protests against the deterioration of economic conditions and government corruption over the past two years, Human Rights Watch said today. These sentences have been issued on vaguely defined national security charges, and defendants have had restricted access to lawyers and alleged that the authorities tortured or abused them to produce coerced confessions. Iranian authorities should immediately repeal the death sentences. “Iran’s version of ‘accountability’ is apparently sentencing people involved in protests in unfair trials rather than investigating the overwhelming evidence of security forces’ excessive use of force and the death of hundreds of protestors who were shot dead by bullets,” said Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The judiciary should immediately repeal the recent death sentences and guarantee a fair trial to those who are facing allegations of recognizable crimes.” On June 24, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) reported that Iran’s Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences against Amirhossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi, three young men who were arrested after participating in the November 2019 protests, on charges of “taking part in destruction and burning, aimed at countering the Islamic Republic of Iran.” A day later, the Young Journalist Club news agency reported that an informed source denied that the Supreme Court upheld the sentences. However, on July 10, Mostafa Nili, a member of the legal team chosen by the family, tweeted that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences. Earlier, Nili, along with Babak Paknia and Hossein Taj, other lawyers chosen by the families of those sentenced, reported on their social media accounts that authorities had denied their requests to read the indictment and charge sheets and submit a defense on behalf of their clients. The authorities arrested Moradi on November 19, after he participated in the protests earlier in Tehran. Authorities in Tehran’s security police and Evin prison severely beat Moradi, who suffers from psoriasis, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic skin irritation and can be exacerbated by stress, a source who preferred to remain anonymous told Human Rights Watch on July 5. Moradi was hospitalized due to his health condition between March 15 and May 16. Authorities arrested Tamjidi and Rajabi on December 28 and beat both of them in detention as well, the source said. The Hrana news agency reported that the three defendants appeared in branch 15 of Tehran’s revolutionary court on January 24 and 25, along with two women, Mojhgan Eskandari, and Shima R. The court subsequently sentenced Moradi, Tamjidi, and Rajabi to death on the charge of “taking part in destruction and burning, aimed at countering the Islamic Republic of Iran.”