Thu 24 September 2020:
The death sentences of four prisoners in Sheiban Prison in Khuzestan province have been upheld by the Supreme Court, and their execution is reported to be imminent.
On September 20, authorities released the names of the four men, who are from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, in an online statement. They have been named as Ali Khazraji, Ali Majdam, Ali Motiri, and Hossein Seylavi.
Ali Motiri
Ali Motiri is a boxer and was arrested in 2018. His plight has come to public attention just 10 days after the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari, despite international condemnation and appeals from the human rights and sports communities for his life to be spared. Afkari had also been forced to confess under duress.
Ali Motiri, 30, was accused of killing two Basijis, members of the volunteer wing of the Revolutionary Guards. Motiri’s father is also in custody and his mother recently died. After his arrest, Motiri’s family were not told anything about his case, or whether he was even incarcerated. Eventually the family discovered he was behind bars. After being tortured, he pleaded guilty to premeditated murder and membership to an Al-Ahwazi group. As the coronavirus crisis worsened in Iran’s prions, Motiri and other prisoners protested against conditions at Sheiban Prison.
The three other inmates on death row also took part in the protests. They are all currently being held in solitary confinement while they wait for their execution date.
Ali Khazraji
Ali Khazraji called his mother from prison in mid-September and said he had been transferred, but that he did know where it was. “I’m fine, but I do not know what awaits me,” he said. Soon after, the prisoner’s mother went to Sheiban Prison to follow up on her son’s condition.
Amnesty International has previously reported that Khazraji was “sentenced to death after a highly unfair trial based on forced confessions.” The organization also noted that the Islamic Republic is increasingly using the death penalty as a weapon of repression, and is carrying out greater numbers of executions at a time when concerns about popular protests are intensifying.
After almost six months of torture, Ali Khazraji was put on trial and sentenced to death. During this time his two brothers and father were also imprisoned for three months. A public defendant lawyer going by the name Eskandari has been appointed to represent him.
Hossein Seylavi
Hossein Seylavi and Ali Khazraji have both been linked to an attack on a police station in Ahvaz in May 2017. The media reported that an armed group had attacked a police station known as Number 22, killing two police officers. More details later emerged, but many aspects of the case remained unclear.
Ali Majdam
Ali Majdam has also been accused of collaborating with the Al-Ahwazi group, despite testimonies from local people indicating that he had always avoided political matters. They described him as a man from a humble background who is so poor that he cannot afford a refrigerator, and certainly not an air conditioner to help he and his wife survive the suffocating summer weather in Ahvaz. Ali Majdam also faces the death penalty, and has been told his execution is imminent.
All four men on death row in Ahvaz have been accused of membership to separatist Arab forces, including the Al-Ahwaz Resistance Movement.
According to Arab activists, ethnic Arabs are routinely arrested on fabricated charges and then “sacrificed” in the name of Iran’s national security. Known as “security birds,” authorities keep them behind bars until a time when it is politically expedient to draw public attention to them.
-Source: Iran Wire
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