Iran to hold public trials of 1,000 indicted over unrest

GBNEWS24DESK//

Iran’s hardline judiciary will hold public trials of about 1,000 people indicted over unrest in Tehran, a semi-official news agency said on Monday, intensifying efforts to crush weeks of protests ignited by Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody.

One of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical leaders since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the almost seven-week-old protests have continued despite a deadly crackdown and increasingly severe warnings, with the Revolutionary Guards bluntly telling demonstrators to stay off the streets.

In a video shared on social media, a woman said her 22-year-old son had been handed a death sentence two days ago in an initial court hearing and appealed for help. The widely followed Twitter account that shared the video, 1500tasvir, said he had been tried by the “rioters’ tribunal”.

Iranian leaders have called the protests a plot by enemies including the United States, vowing tough action against protesters they have described as “rioters”.

Protesters from all walks of life have taken part, with students and women playing a prominent role, waving and burning headscarves since the 22-year-old Amini died in the custody of morality police who arrested her for “inappropriate attire”.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing Tehran’s chief justice, said the trials of about 1,000 people “who have carried out acts of sabotage in recent events, including assaulting or martyring security guards, (and) setting fire to public property”, would take place in a Revolutionary Court.

The trials had been scheduled for this week and would be held in public, it said.

It was not immediately clear if the 1,000 indictments announced on Monday included 315 protesters whom the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday had been charged in Tehran, at least five of whom are accused of capital offences.

In the video shared on social media, the mother of 22-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou said he had been interrogated without the presence of a lawyer.

“My son is ill, court doesn’t even allow his lawyer to enter the courtroom…They have interrogated him without an attorney present and, in the very first session, sentenced him to death and wanting to execute this ASAP,” said the woman, who did not give her name.

Reuters could not independently verify her account.