New information from inside Iran indicates that Iranian protester Mostafa Salehi who was hanged on August 5, 2020, in Isfahan had been subjected to vicious tortures to confess the killing on an IRGV member.
He never accepted the charges but was still hanged despite the lack of evidence.
A source said that Mostafa Salehi had been severely tortured in the past two years to confess the killing of Sajjad Shahsanaei a member of the IRGC Basij forces.
“Mostafa’s hand and both legs had been broken during interrogations. Agents also used needles to puncture under his nails,” the source said.
“The tortures were so severe that his neck and spinal cord became injured. They tortured him to confess but he never did,” the source said.
According to the source, Mostafa’s family were told to stay silent and that “it would be bad for Mostafa” if they talked to anyone about his plight.
“His family stayed silent, but in the end they still executed him,” the source added.
The human rights website said that Mostafa was the father of a 6 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.
Despite facing persistent pressure and enduring long periods of torture while he was held at the Isfahan Police Department, during interrogations by the Isfahan Intelligence Agency, Salehi refused to confess, as the Najafabad (Isfahan) prosecutor later confirmed. No weapons, ammunition, or other evidence were found. He pleaded not guilty in court.
Torture and other ill-treatment are absolutely prohibited under international law including Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
However, the Iranian regime is notoriously renowned for making up scenarios and extracting forced confessions from political prisoners to justify their execution.
The regime’s Judiciary confirmed on Friday, July 10, the death sentences for three young protesters, Amir Hossein Moradi, Saied Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi, arrested during November 2019 nationwide uprising. The regime later stepped back due to the worldwide campaign.
The trial of the three men, which took place on 5-6 January 2020, was grossly unfair, according to Amnesty International.
The regime’s oppressive state security forces identified and arrested 25-year-old Moradi using CCTV footage obtained during the November 2019 protests. He was held for a week in a detention center of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) in Tehran before being transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for a month. Moradi was then placed under torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shock treatment and even an interrogator standing on his chest.
Less than two weeks ago, a worldwide twitter campaign, in which users tweeted 12 million times the hashtag #donotexecute, called for the halt of the death sentences for three youths arrested during the November 2019.
In another developement Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of five other men in Isfahan arrested by security forces during the 2017-2018 and January 2019 protests.
The protesters, Mehdi Salehi Ghale Shahrokhi, Mohammad Bastami, Majid Nazari Kondori, Hadi Kiani, and Abbas Mohammadi have each received two death sentences on charges of “waging war against God” and “baghi” (taking up arms against the government).
