Iran: Social Media Storm May Halt Protesters’ Executions
Published by Ali on July 18, 2020
International Liberty Association: Iran’s judiciary has announced that it might halt the executions of three young men arrested in connection with November protests, following a social media campaign.
The Persian hashtag “#do_not_execute” was used five million times after it was announced on Tuesday that the Supreme Court had upheld their death sentences.
Many celebrities supported the campaign.
On Wednesday night, the judiciary said its chief would consider any request from the men to review their sentences.
ILA had previously reported that: “Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences against three young men arrested during the November 2019 protests. Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi were sentenced to death after Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted them of several charges including “enmity against God” (moharebeh)”.
“On 18 February 2020, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson accused them of being “riot leaders” who had “set fire to banks and petrol stations during the nationwide protests and had filmed their acts and sent the videos to foreign media”. They were also sentenced to between 11 and 16 years in prison and flogging on charges including “armed robbery”, which were related to separate incidents.”
Lawyers for the three men also were told that they could for the first time examine the court papers and evidence against their clients.
