Iran’s judiciary has sentenced four people detained during January’s anti-regime protests to death, including the first woman to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations, and ordered the confiscation of their property, according to Iranian opposition and human rights groups.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran identified the prisoners as Mohammadreza Majidi Asl, 34, his wife Bita Hemmati, and two other men, Behrouz Zamaninezhad and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, who lived in the couple’s apartment building.
All four were arrested during the uprising in Tehran and “subject to torture and interrogation” and “hastily sentenced to death and the confiscation of all their property by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court,” according to the NCRI.
Authorities accused the group of participating in protests on Jan. 8–9, including chanting protest slogans, throwing objects—including “bottles, concrete blocks and incendiary materials”—from rooftops and destruction of public property.
The court also charged the four with “operational actions for the hostile government of the United States and terrorist groups,” citing a law known as the “Intensification of Punishment for Cooperation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile Countries Against National Security and Interests,” according to the Hana Human Rights Organization.
“The issuance of death sentences and the total confiscation of assets against protesters demonstrate a clear escalation of judicial repression in the Islamic Republic,” the organization stated.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran stated that these death sentences follow “grossly unfair, fast-tracked trials conducted without due process, access to independent counsel and with reliance on torture-tainted forced ‘confessions’ as evidence.”
“The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations, relevant international bodies, and human rights defenders to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death, especially political prisoners and those detained during the uprising,” the NCRI stated.
No execution date has yet been given, according to reports.
