Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani in imminent danger of execution in Iran
On 23 February 2025, the Iranian regime's Supreme Court rejected a request for a retrial of the death sentences of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, thus placing them in imminent danger of execution.
On 16 September 2024, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were sentenced to death by Iman Afshari, the well-known head of Tehran Revolutionary Court's Courtroom 26. They were found guilty of the following charges: ‘Rebellion (baghi)’, ‘War against God (moharebeh)’, ‘Corruption on earth (efsad-e fel arz)’, membership of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), collection of classified information, conspiracy against national security and illegal possession of arms and ammunition. The Supreme Court upheld these sentences on 7 January 2025.
Behrouz Ehsani, 70, a former political prisoner from the 1980s, was arrested in Tehran on 5 December 2024 and transferred to ward 209 of Evin prison, where he was subjected to torture. After his death sentence was passed, he sent a message to the Iranian people declaring: ‘This regime, centred on executions, knows nothing else. I will not negotiate for my life. I am willing to give my humble life for the freedom of the Iranian people’.
Mehdi Hassani, 48 years old and father of three, was arrested on 11 September 2022 in Zanjan and taken to ward 209 of Evin prison, where he was subjected to severe torture.
Amnesty International strongly condemned the death sentences of Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani in statements published on 16 and 23 January, calling them deeply unjust and demanding their immediate annulment.
The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran to take urgent measures to prevent the executions of Behrouz Ehsani, Mehdi Hassani and other political prisoners condemned to death.
