A 32-year-old Arab political prisoner was hanged in the Sepidar Prison of Ahvaz at dawn on Tuesday, November 28, 2023. Hani Albu-Shahbazi was sentenced to death on the charge of Moharebeh (waging war on God) and for the alleged killing of two intelligence agents.
Hani Shahbazi, a resident of Falahiyeh (Shadegan), was one of the protesters detained during the November 2019 protests. Following the brutal and bloody crackdown on the people of Shadegan in November 2019, this protester was arrested in this city on Tuesday, December 3, 2019.
He was subjected to severe torture and forced to make confessions against himself. Based on these confessions, Hani Shahbazi was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Abadan on charges of Moharebeh and the murder of Yaser Sepidrou, a member of the State Security Force, and Mohammad Ali Kazemi, a member of the Basij.
Saleh Motahari, the legal deputy for the State Security Forces Command in Khuzestan province, told the state media and press about the death sentence carried out after being upheld by the Supreme Court, without identifying the executed prisoner.
No accurate information is available on Hani Shahbazi’s trial proceedings, his access to a lawyer, and the convening of his trial. However, like other political prisoners who have been executed, the trial process is believed to be unfair. Sentences issued based on confessions forcibly made under torture are legally invalid and lack legitimacy.
Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) urges the international community and all human rights organizations to condemn the execution of political prisoner Hani Shahbazi, and calls for immediate action to halt executions in Iran.
