Iran International
A Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced seven protesters, including a 19-year-old, to death after accusing them of setting fire to a Basij base during nationwide protests in January, according to documents reviewed by Iran International.
The sentences were issued on February 6, the source said, despite the defendants’ claims that they were trapped inside the building after it was set ablaze.
Mohammad Amin Biglari, 19, and six other men were convicted of arson of public property, “corruption on earth,” collusion against national security, and “enmity against God”—capital charges under Iranian law.
The others sentenced to death are Shahin Vahedparast Kalur, Shahab Zohdi, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani, Amirhossein Hatami, Yaser Rajaeifar and Ali Fahim.
Their lawyer, Hassan Aghakhani, told the Emtedad news outlet that the defendants were tried jointly before Judge Abolghasem Salavati, who is under US sanctions, and received the maximum punishment.
Aghakhani said he had been denied access to the case file and that it remained unclear what confession his client was alleged to have made.
State television previously aired what it described as confessions by several detainees. In the broadcast, men with blurred faces and closely shaved heads said they had entered the building but did not set it on fire and were trapped inside after others ignited the entrance, blocking their exit.
The charges stem from a January 7 fire at the Kaveh Basij Base near Namjoo Street in eastern Tehran.
Two eyewitnesses who spoke to Iran International said they saw several men set motorcycles ablaze outside the base before others were pushed inside and the entrance was set on fire. One witness said security forces were present but did not intervene.
Iran International cannot independently verify these accounts.
Biglari, who works at a men’s hair salon, was arrested on January 7 and is being held in Qezel Hesar prison, according to information received by Iran International. The detention conditions of the other six defendants remain unclear.
Iran’s judiciary has previously announced thousands of indictments linked to arrests made during the January protests.
