Tag: Mohammad Reza Sheikh Ahmadi

Update on Six Death-Row Prisoners in Vakilabad Prison

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Executions, News, Prisoners
Abdolbaset Avarsan, Abdolhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij, Ahmadian Salami, Baghi, Farhad Shakeri, Hamid Rast Bala, HRANA, Isa Eyd-Mohammadi, Kabir Saadat Jahani, Malek Ali Fadaie-Nasab, Mohammad Reza Sheikh Ahmadi, Mohammad-Ali Arayesh, Morteza Fakoori, Taj-Mohammad Khormali, Vakilabad prison

Malek Ali Fadaie-Nasab, Farhad Shakeri, Isa Eyd-Mohammadi, Abdolhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij, and Taj-Mohammad Khormali, currently incarcerated in Ward 1/6 of Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, face imminent execution. In late July 2023, the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced these defendants, part of the same legal case, to death in a retrial.

These six individuals, along with six others—Abdolbaset Avarsan, Mohammad-Reza Sheikh Ahmadi, Morteza Fakoori, Hamid Rast Bala, Kabir Saadat Jahani, and Mohammad-Ali Arayesh—were detained by the Ministry of Intelligence in 2015 and imprisoned in Vakilabad Prison after one year. Except for Fadaie-Nasab, all these prisoners are members of the Sunni minority in Iran.

In 2019, the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced Ahmadi, Avarsan, and Fakoori to 15 years in prison for “armed rebellion (Baghi) through membership in a Salafi-ISIS group.” The remaining 9 defendants were sentenced to death for “armed rebellion through membership in the Salafi group known as Al-Furqan and the Iranian Sunni front known as Hambastegi Melli.”

Rast-Bala, Saadat Jahani, and Arayesh were executed in this prison on December 31, 2020. The case of the six other defendants was overturned by the Supreme Court, and it was forwarded to another court branch for a retrial. In July 2023, Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Ahmadian Salami, sentenced these six prisoners to death again. The verdict is currently under review by branch 39 of the Supreme Court.

A source close to one of their families informed HRANA that after the issuance of the death sentence, Shakeri and Abdolrahman Gorgij initiated a hunger strike that lasted for a while.

“The case has many flaws, and there is no substantial evidence to support the charges,” the source clarified. The source also confirmed that the prisoners have been subjected to torture during their detention.

Sunni Vakilabad Prisoners Write Letter to UN Special Rapporteur Requesting an Investigation into their Case

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Executions, Prisoners
Abdolbaset Orsan, Abdolrahman Gargij, Abdullah Hosseini, Eisa Eid-Mohammadi, Farhad Shakeri, Habib Pir- Mohammadi, id al-Hakim Azim Gargij, Javid Rahman, Mohammad Reza Sheikh Ahmadi, Morteza Fakuri, un special rapporteur on iran

Nine Sunni prisoners in Vakilabad prison have written a letter to Javid Rahman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, requesting that their case be investigated.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the nine prisoners have been identified as Eisa Eid-Mohammadi, Farhad Shakeri, Eid al-Hakim Azim Gargij, Abdolrahman Gargij, Habib Pir- Mohammadi, Abdolbaset Orsan, Mohammad Reza Sheikh Ahmadi, Morteza Fakuri, and Abdullah Hosseini.

In a part of their letter, the prisoners reported they were being beaten and tortured for forced confessions and their families were also being pressured by authorities.

 

“…Accusations full of lies and fabrications under severe torture, forced and dictated confessions, threats, and imprisonment of our family members, which has led to harsh death sentences and long prison terms of more than 15 years. Some of our families, parents, and spouses were summoned and detained to harass and torture us. Also, the involvement of the Ministry of Intelligence in our family affairs led to divorce and the disintegration of the family unit, and for our children to lose a parent.

These actions had been taken to force us to cooperate with the Ministry of Intelligence and to accept the false accusations.

It has also become a routine to be beaten and desecrated in Ward 1.6 of Mashhad Prison by prison guards, and the ward’s supervisor, and non-political mercenary prisoners who harass us on the orders of prison officials.

In addition to issuing illegal death sentences, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Judiciary, through some of their lawyers, liaisons, and informants, go to our families and demand billions of Tomans to break our execution sentences.

With this way of issuing unjust and illegal verdicts, they have found a way to fill their own pockets at the price of sacrificing Iranian and Sunni youth.”

 

These citizens have previously been detained by Ministry of Intelligence agents and sentenced to death or long prison terms. They are imploring Rahman to commit to giving their case a thorough investigation.

 

“We request that you investigate our cases, which are facing false accusations such as acting against security, membership in dissident groups, membership in the Al-Forqan party group, propaganda against the regime, and so on.

We have been in prison for more than 5 years. We were banned from calling and visiting for more than 2 years.”