Amnesty says at least 30 in Iran at risk of execution after 'unfair trials'

At least 30 Iranians are at risk of facing the death penalty as authorities move to expedite state-controlled trials that rights groups say are marred by torture and serious legal abuses.

At least eight people arrested during nationwide protests in January have already been sentenced to death, while a further 22 are undergoing what Amnesty International describes as "expedited torture-tainted grossly unfair trials" over their alleged involvement in the demonstrations.

In a report released on Friday, Amnesty has accused the Iranian government of "serious violations" in the legal procedures of those convicted of capital crimes, such as "the right to a fair trial, including denial of access to lawyers during the investigation phase, and refusal to recognise independent legal counsel appointed by families for trial".

At least eight of the cases of convicted individuals have been sentenced to death within weeks of their arrests.

Although 30 people have been identified in Friday’s report as being at imminent risk of facing the death penalty, the global rights group warns that the real number of those at risk “is much higher”, accusing Iranian authorities of threatening families of the detainees against speaking out about their convictions.

The Amnesty statement highlighted multiple cases of young adults, including two underage boys, believed to have been subjected to unjust trials and forced confessions.

18-year-old Saleh Mohammadi was arrested by a criminal court in Qom and sentenced to death on 4 February, less than three weeks after his arrest in connection with the death of a security agent.

The verdict shows how Mohammadi had retracted his "confessions" in court, saying that they had been extracted under torture. This was dismissed by the court without calling for an inquiry, despite a source telling Amnesty that he had sustained hand fractures as a result of beatings.

Mohammad Amin Biglari, a 19-year-old, was sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh, or enmity against God – a state-sanctioned legal charge that rights groups argue is used by authorities to suppress political opposition.

According to Amnesty, Biglari was incommunicado for weeks before being transferred to a prison in Alborz and appointed a lawyer by the state during a "fast-tracked trial based on forced confessions", alleging he was involved in the setting on fire of a Basij base in early January.

He has been denied independent lawyers appointed by his family.

Authorities are also accused of expediting the trial of 18-year-old Ehran Hosseinipour Hesarloo, who was accused by a Tehran court of being involved in the 8 January fire at a Basij base in a mosque in Pakdasht that left two Basij agents dead.

According to Amnesty, Hesarloo, alongside two other 17-year-old children, had been arrested earlier that day before the incident took place and forced to confess "when interrogators put a gun in his mouth".

The two underage boys are reported to remain at a detention facility for children and are facing similar capital charges, despite international human rights law prohibiting the death penalty for children aged under 18 at the time of the alleged incident.

"In weaponizing the death penalty, they are seeking to instil fear and crush the spirit of a population demanding fundamental change", said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

Iran’s judiciary chief had previously ordered expedited trials and executions for political dissidents, or what the regime labels as "collaborators".

US President Donald Trump claimed in mid-January that Iran had halted killings and executions following threats that he would take military action on Tehran if the brutal crackdown on protesters continued.

Rights groups suggest, however, that "patterns of torture and enforced disappearances in Iran, along with arbitrary deprivation of life, including through both mass unlawful killings during protest dispersals and arbitrary executions, have continued and remain rooted in systemic impunity".

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,002 people have been killed in the weeks-long demonstrations in Iran, including 214 security personnel. At least 52,941 others have been detained, the NGO said.

Iran’s latest government figure placed the death toll at 3,117 people.