Protesters Gather In Front Of An Iranian Prison In Efforts To Halt Executions

Chants of determined protest rang through the air outside a prison in the Iranian city of Karaj on Sunday night. Dozens of people had gathered in an attempt to stop the rumored executions of two more protesters arrested during the recent uprisings. The two young men facing death sentences are Mohammad Ghobadlou, 22, and Mohammad Boroughani, 19. Both men are convicted of “enmity against God” after allegedly committing violent crimes during the protests. Ghobadlou is accused of driving a car into a crowd of police officers in September in Tehran, which killed one and injured others. Boroughani stands accused of having a machete, setting fire to a government building, and injuring a security officer, says the BBC. Amnesty International as well as several other Human Rights watch groups have raised major concerns over the legitimacy of these trials. Reports have surfaced citing accounts of torture and coercion used as part of the trials as well as either false or otherwise flawed evidence. The mother of Ghobadlou appealed for clemency during the gathering, citing her son’s bipolar disorder as grounds for a mental health review. 

His mother shouted in a video verified by Al Jazeera, “My child is sick, he has a medical file, but they don’t want to accept.” Amnesty International said that the court proceedings “bore no resemblance to a meaningful judicial trial.” Other protesters in videos posted to Twitter, and verified by the BBC, yelled, “I will kill who has killed my brother,” and “This is the last warning. If you execute [them] there will be an uprising.” Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, spoke out against the executions of protesters in Iran, stating, as reported by The Guardian: “Two more lives lost to senseless executions from the Iranian regime.”

The recent state of Iran has been a cause for concern globally over human rights violations. The gathering of people outside of the Rajai Shahr jail in Karaj led to the postponement of further executions for the time being, but the people of Iran still need more support. In order to prevent further bloodshed in Iran, harsher stances must be taken against the Iranian government by other nations. 

The push back against these two imminent executions follows the execution of two other young male protesters on Saturday. Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini were both hanged by the Iranian state after being convicted for “corruption on Earth.” They were accused of alleged involvement in the death of a member of the paramilitary Basij force in November. Similar to Ghobadlou and Boroughani, both men denied the allegations and were tortured, according to the BBC. These trials take place following the uprising in Iran catalyzed by the death of Mahsa Amini in September, a young woman arrested by the Iranian Morality Police for not properly wearing a Hijab who died while in police custody. Since the beginning of the protests began in September, there have been 19,290 protesters arrested, with 111 facing possible death sentences. According to the Human Rights Activist’s News Agency(HRANA), 519 protesters and 68 security personnel have died. 

The treatment of protesters in Iran has violated International Human Rights laws. The people of Iran want change, and it is time for international actors to put pressure on the current Iranian regime to listen to their people. 

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