May 6, 2023
Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced on Monday, March 6, 2023, that the death sentence of six Ahvazi Arabs had been confirmed.
According to the news agency, the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court had sentenced Ali Majdam, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Moin Khanfari, Habib Daris, Adnan Ghobishavi, and Salim Mousavi to death. These individuals were arrested by the Intelligence Department in Ahvaz and its surrounding cities in 2018 and 2019. The charges against them include membership in the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA), the murder of two Basij militiamen named Yunus Bahr and Ali Salehi Majid in Abadan, as well as a police force personnel named Allah Nazar Safari and a conscript named Mohammad Reza Rafiei Nesab.
However, reliable local sources indicate that the confessions were obtained under physical and mental torture, and the verdicts were issued based on these confessions. Additionally, the process of interrogation and trial was vague and unclear, and the defendants were deprived of the right to a lawyer.
The Atlas of Iran's Prisons has mentioned in its report the torture and unfair trial process of these six prisoners. The report includes testimony from a local source stating that Ali Majdam, one of the accused, was subjected to physical torture and forced to confess while his wife and children were present. He was also kept in solitary confinement for six months.
The Islamic Republic of Iran's regime continuously accuses its opponents in various regions of Khuzestan province of being associated with separatist groups. These accusations are used to issue death sentences and long-term prison terms against them to intimidate protesters who oppose the regime's inhumane policies.
As there is no conclusive evidence of these individuals committing a crime deserving of the death penalty, and they were deprived of their right to a fair trial and proper interrogation, we, the signatories of this petition, request the cancellation of the issued death sentences. We condemn their treatment and demand that they are given a fair and just trial with legal representation and oversight from international organizations throughout the interrogation and trial processes.
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