Iran denies plan to execute detained protester

Iran’s judiciary has denied it scheduled the execution of a person arrested in reference to the nation’s current protests.

Norway-based Kurdish human rights organisation Hengaw mentioned earlier this week that the household of Erfan Soltani, 26, had been informed he confronted execution on Wednesday, solely days after he was detained.

On Wednesday, Hengaw cited them as saying Soltani’s execution had been “postponed” however warned that “severe and ongoing issues” relating to his life remained.

“That is excellent news. Hopefully, it would proceed!” mentioned US President Donald Trump, who had warned Iran to not execute protesters.

The Iranian judiciary mentioned Soltani confronted prices of “colluding towards nationwide safety” and “propaganda actions towards the institution”, which aren’t punishable by the demise penalty, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

It referred to as reviews by international media organisations that Soltani confronted execution a “blatant act of stories fabrication”.

Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi additionally mentioned in an interview with US tv that there was “no plan” to hold folks.

It got here after Trump threatened to take “very robust motion” if executions had been carried out, amid mounting hypothesis of doable US navy strikes.

On Wednesday, he informed reporters that “essential sources on the opposite aspect” had knowledgeable him “the killing in Iran is stopping, and there is not any plan for executions”.

Soltani, a garments store proprietor, was arrested at his residence final Thursday in reference to the protests within the northern metropolis of Fardis, west of Tehran, in keeping with the group and his household.

Nevertheless, the judiciary mentioned he was arrested throughout “riots” on Saturday and was being held in a jail within the neighbouring metropolis of Karaj, in keeping with IRIB.

Chatting with the BBC from Europe, a cousin referred to as Somaya mentioned Soltani was nonetheless in jail and she or he remained involved about him, though she had heard little or no information due to the web blackout in Iran.

Nevertheless she mentioned a message despatched through the Starlink satellite tv for pc web service had mentioned he had not had a defence lawyer and his household had been beneath lots of stress from the authorities.

“Erfan is the guts of that household. He is a really calm, very sort particular person,” she mentioned, including that he liked pictures, sport and animals and had simply wished “fundamental rights” for himself and the folks of Iran.

“He had hundreds of hopes for himself and different younger folks.”

Somaya mentioned the Iranian authorities had hoped that executing Erfan would “scare folks into stopping the protests”.

“They did not have any purpose to arrest Erfan. There are numerous Erfans. The one technique of the federal government is to finish the protests this fashion,” she mentioned.

Afterward Thursday, the US Treasury division mentioned Trump had directed it to impose new sanctions on 5 senior Iranian officers whom it accused of being “the architects of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceable demonstrators”.

They included the secretary of the Supreme Council for Nationwide Safety, Ali Larijani, who the Treasury mentioned co-ordinated the response to the protests, in addition to the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and police forces within the western province of Lorestan and southern province of Fars, the place the Treasury mentioned safety personnel had shot lifeless many civilians.

Responding to the judiciary’s assertion, the director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights mentioned threats of the demise penalty towards detainees and their households weren’t unusual.

The chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, has advocated for the swift trial and punishment of arrested “rioters”.

“These components who beheaded folks within the streets or burned folks alive have to be tried and punished as shortly as doable,” he mentioned in a video on Wednesday. “If we do not do it quick, it will not have the identical affect.”

Justice Minister Amin Hossein Rahimi in the meantime mentioned that any particular person arrested in the course of the protests that happened between final Thursday and Saturday was “positively a felony”.

Over the previous three years, Iran has hanged not less than 12 males who had been sentenced to demise in reference to the 2022 “Girl, Life, Freedom” protests. Human rights teams mentioned their convictions got here after torture-tainted “confessions” and grossly unfair trials.

The present wave of protests started after shopkeepers in Tehran went on strike over the rising value of dwelling and the depreciating worth of the forex.

They shortly unfold throughout the nation and turned towards Iran’s clerical institution, notably the Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The slogans chanted by demonstrators have included “Demise to the dictator” and “Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] shall be toppled this 12 months”.

The protests escalated considerably final Thursday and had been met with lethal drive by authorities, masked by a close to whole shutdown of the web and communication companies.

In keeping with the US-based Human Rights Activists Information Company (HRANA), not less than 2,453 protesters have been killed for the reason that unrest started, in addition to 14 kids, 156 folks affiliated with the safety forces or authorities, and 14 uninvolved civilians.

It reviews that one other 18,470 protesters have been arrested.

Iran Human Rights says it has up to now verified the killing of not less than 3,428 protesters by safety forces and estimates that round 20,000 folks have been arrested.

Canada’s International Minister, Anita Anand, mentioned on Thursday {that a} Canadian citizen had “died in Iran by the hands of Iranian authorities”, with out figuring out them.

“Peaceable protests by the Iranian folks – asking that their voices be heard within the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations – have led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” she added.

The Worldwide Federation of Purple Cross and Purple Crescent Societies additionally mentioned a employees member of the Iranian Purple Crescent, Amir Ali Latifi, had been killed and 5 of his colleagues wounded “within the line of responsibility in Gilan province” on 10 January.