Amnesty International has raised alarm over the imminent risk of execution faced by two political prisoners following their transfer from Tehran’s Evin prison to Ghezel Hesar prison in Alborz province on Sunday.
"Their grossly unfair trial was marred by allegations of torture and forced confessions," Amnesty said in a statement Monday.
Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, had their death sentences upheld by Iran's Supreme Court earlier this month.
Mostafa Nili, a lawyer representing Ehsani, said on Monday that the Supreme Court had ordered a temporary halt to Ensani's execution.
"Today, along with my esteemed colleague Mr. Babak Paknia, we visited the Supreme Court branch. We learned that the branch, in accordance with the law, issued an order yesterday to halt the execution of Mr. Behrouz Ehsani Aslamlou's sentence. The sentence will not be carried out until the review of the retrial request is completed," Nili wrote in a post on X.
No such announcement has been made regarding Hassani, leaving his fate uncertain.
According to Norway based rights group, Iran Human Rights (IHR), the two men were arrested at the height of Iran's nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
IHR said Ehsani and Hassani were notified of their death sentences on the second anniversary of the protests in September 2024. According to IHR the two men were sentenced to death on charges of baghy (armed rebellion) and moharebeh (enmity against god) through “membership in Mojahedin Organisation [MEK] and collecting classified information.”
“In recent days, officials of the Islamic Republic have linked the murders of Judges Moghiseh and Razini to MEK, paving the way for the execution of prisoners associated with the organisation," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in a statement.
"For this reason, the risk of these prisoners' execution is very serious. We call on the international community, human rights organisations, and the people of Iran to increase the political cost of these executions through their efforts," he added.
Judges Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini, assassinated in Tehran on January 18, had decades-long histories of handing down death sentences and lengthy prison terms to dissidents in numerous cases.
According to Amnesty, Ehsani was held in solitary confinement for 50 days in section 240 of Evin prison, where agents pressured him to make forced confessions under psychological torture, including threats of flogging, execution, and harm to his family, which he resisted. He was later moved to section 209 for 75 days before being transferred to a general ward.
Similarly, Hassani was held in solitary confinement for six months and forced to write self-incriminating statements under torture. According to Amnesty both men were denied contact with their families during these periods.
Amnesty urged Iranian authorities to halt the executions immediately and quash their convictions and sentences.