An Iranian court has sentenced a protester arrested during the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protest uprising to death and two others to lengthy prison terms, France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Monday.
Pezhman Soltani, 32, was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death under qisas, retribution-in-kind, which allows the victim’s family to demand execution under Islamic law, KHRN said.
Two other men, Rizgar Beygzadeh Baba-Miri, 47, and Ali Soran Ghassemi, 28, were sentenced to 15 years and 10 years and one day in prison, respectively, for "complicity in murder." A fourth defendant, Kaveh Salehi, 42, was acquitted.
The verdicts were issued in December last year by a criminal court in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province and delivered to the defendants in prison on January 15, KHRN added.
A separate case against the four men and a fifth prisoner, Javanmard Mam-Khosravi, remains open at the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh in northwestern Iran on charges including enmity against God or moharebeh, armed insurrection or baghi and collaboration with hostile states.
KHRN said the case has been delayed due to complaints by the men that Ministry of Intelligence interrogators used torture to extract forced confessions.
On July 14, 2024, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency broadcast what KHRN described as forced confessions from four of the prisoners.
The group said the men had been subjected to months of physical and psychological torture at an intelligence detention center in Orumiyeh before being moved to Orumiyeh Central Prison. During this time, they were denied access to lawyers and family visits.
The five were arrested in April and May 2023 after taking part in the nationwide protests in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, and Baneh, Kurdistan Province.
Last December, Amnesty International warned that at least 10 individuals in Iran remain on death row in connection with the Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini over an alleged hijab law violation.
The rights group said Iranian authorities had arbitrarily executed 10 others after "grossly unfair sham trials" and subjected many detainees to torture, including beatings, electric shocks, and sexual violence.
Amnesty raised concerns over further executions amid what it described as an "ongoing execution spree."
Amid celebratory gatherings attended by state officials, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday: “If the US were sincere about negotiations, why did they sanction us?”
Reflecting Tehran's concerns about returning to the negotiating table with President Donald Trump who, during his first term, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord and imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, Pezeshkian said: “He says, ‘Let’s have a dialogue,’ and at the same moment, he signs memos for all possible conspiracies against Iran.”
Further casting doubt on recent hopes for rapprochement amid a mood of mistrust, Pezeshkian accused Washington of orchestrating conspiracies against Iran while proposing talks and claimed it was Tehran's archenemy Israel, not Iran, that destabilized the Middle East.
The comments followed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s recent statement that negotiations with the US are “unwise and dishonorable.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed similar sentiments, saying, “What they mean by negotiation is surrender. Iran negotiated in good faith, but the other side failed to fulfill its commitments and withdrew from the [2015 nuclear] agreement. Why should we trust them?”
Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh also rejected talks under current conditions, saying, “We will not negotiate under sanctions and threats, and we do not recognize the new US administration.”
IRGC Aerospace Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh mocked Trump’s threats, saying, “He does not have such courage. A powerful Iran does not submit to coercion.”
Like previous years, a statement was released by the government after the ceremony stressing that as the Supreme Leader said it is not wise or honorable to hold negotiations with the US.
“The government must strengthen security and intelligence structures to prevent the infiltration of enemy agents and divisive movements within the country’s institutions,” added the statement
The document also called for a stronger military. "We expect national officials to take decisive action against those disrupting the nation’s psychological security," it continued, "who, by aligning with the enemy, attempt to distort the truth.”
As officials rallied in support of the Islamic Republic, protests erupted in Tehran and other cities on Sunday night, where citizens chanted slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and showed anger at Supreme Leader Khamenei during state-organized fireworks displays.
The ongoing public unrest underscores the tensions within Iran as it faces mounting international and domestic challenges in the midst of its crushing economic crisis.
