Despite Roadblocks, Residents In Iran’s Zahedan Again Hold Anti-Government Protests

By: - January 20, 2023

Source link

While Mohammad Hosseini’s execution was intended as a message from Tehran that involvement in ongoing antiestablishment protests will not be tolerated, his memory lives on as a victim of state repression.

The 39-year-old poultry worker and community-minded coach had no support from those closest to him as he faced charges of killing a member of Iran’s paramilitary forces as mourners demonstrated in a city outside the Iranian capital in November.

After being found guilty of “corruption on Earth” in a rushed trial, Hosseini received no visits from friends and relatives as he sat on death row. Nobody, not even his three siblings, pleaded publicly for his life to be spared before he was hanged in early January, and reports suggest that no one immediately claimed his body.

His brother, with whom Hosseini did not have a close relationship, was given his body only after he promised “not to speak to anyone and bury him in silence” sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

But in the weeks following his death, Hosseini has been increasingly embraced by supporters who see themselves as “mothers,” “brothers,” and “sisters” of a victim of state repression who lived a simple life, dealt with medical conditions, and gave to the community by training impoverished children in the martial arts.

Hosseini was hanged on January 7 along with 22-year-old Mohammad Mehdi Karimi. The two were convicted for the November 3 killing of Basij militia member Ruhollah Ajamian in Karaj, a city just west of Tehran.

Authorities said Ajamian died from multiple blows from “knives and other hard objects, including stones” allegedly delivered by a group of mourners marking 40 days since the death of a demonstrator. The slain protester is just one of more than 500 victims of Iran’s violent crackdown on the mass demonstrations that broke out in over 100 cities across the country following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September. The 22-year-old woman had been detained for allegedly not wearing her hijab, or head scarf, properly.

According to the Iranian authorities, Ajamian was unarmed when he was attacked while attempting to open a road closed by the mourners.

Hosseini and Karimi, who were sentenced to death following a fast-tracked trial in which they were not given access to legal representation of their choice, each denied the allegations against them.

Their trial lasted less than a week and relied on confessions the men gave under torture, according to Amnesty International, which noted that state media aired potentially damning video testimony even before their case got to court.

Hosseini, who reportedly dealt with bipolar disorder, was shown saying that he was on his way to the cemetery in Karaj to visit his parents’ graves when he saw “a young man who had fallen to the ground.”

“Because I have mental issues, I ran away,” he said in the video, which also included images of martial arts weapons taken from Hosseini’s home as evidence.

“These are for sports, dear,” Hosseini said when asked about the weapons.

Allegations Of Torture

In another video also published by state media, he said he spent “less than 10 seconds” at the scene of Ajamian’s killing, and suggested that the Basij member was already dead.

Lawyer Mohammad Sharifzadeh Ardakani, who was initially barred from representing Hosseini, said on December 18 that he managed to meet him in prison, where the accused tearfully said he had been tied up, kicked in the head, and shocked with electricity to make him confess to his alleged crimes.

“A person’s confession under torture has no legal merit,” Ardakani said on Twitter. He was subsequently charged over his comments and released on bail.

Ardakani later said that after Hosseini was convicted he filed for a retrial, but had not managed to convince the court to halt the death sentence. He said he found out about his client’s execution as he headed to discuss the case with the authorities.

Details about Hosseini’s luckless life led to an outpouring of grief and sadness. A photo taken during his trial where he was seen holding his face in an apparent state of shock and disbelief went viral.

“I think about your loneliness, the mother you didn’t have to cry for you, the father who wasn’t there to shout your name,” journalist Sadaf Fatemi wrote on Twitter.

Gohar Eshghi, the mother of blogger Sattar Beheshti killed in 2001 in the custody of Iran’s cyberpolice, called on authorities to hand Hosseini’s body over to her. Camelia Sajadian, whose son Hassan Torkman was reportedly killed in Iran’s ongoing crackdown on antiestablishment protests, announced that she had arranged for a headstone for Hosseini, referring to him as her “dear son.”

Others have visited Hosseini’s grave and showered it with flowers, distributed food to the poor in his memory, or offered their condolences with comments on his Instagram page, which quickly gained over 60,000 followers.

“I didn’t know you until three weeks ago, I hadn’t heard your name and I had no idea who you were. But now I visit your page and cry for you like a sister who has lost a brother,” one woman commented under a photo in which Hosseini was shown practicing martial arts.

 

Mohammad Hosseini was a champion in several martial arts, including kung fu.

Hosseini’s workplace, by contrast, did not allow any kind of memorial for him, one of his colleagues to Radio Farda, while other sources said he was never informed that his execution was imminent.

“Usually prisoners [on death row] are taken to solitary confinement the night before their hanging, but Hosseini was not taken to a solitary cell,” one source told Radio Farda on condition of anonymity. “[The authorities] did not want anyone to find out that he was about to be executed.”

Hosseini is one of four people who have been hanged in Iran in connection with the nationwide protests that began in September.

The executions have been condemned inside and outside the country, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk saying that they amount to “state sanctioned killing.”

Rights groups have warned that about two dozen more who have been sentenced to death or await trial are at risk of being executed.

  • RSS WND

    • WATCH: Tucker Carlson: How will AI affect work?
      Mike Rowe, still one of the best guys in the world. pic.twitter.com/06WduOhPuB — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 28, 2024 For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider! Content created… […]
    • MSNBC: 1 man's 'election denier' is another man's TV host
      MSNBC, the "news" outfit on which the Rev. Al Sharpton has a show, briefly hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, at $300,000 per year, to serve as an on-air pundit. Why did the rabidly anti-Trump, anti-Republican network make her the offer? MSNBC likely did so because 2024 is an election year; McDaniel was… […]
    • Dems' weakest case against Trump is first to go to trial
      Donald Trump was first indicted nearly a year ago, on April 4, 2023, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced charges against the former president over a nondisclosure agreement Trump used to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he had apparently had a brief sexual encounter. Bragg, an elected Democrat, won… […]
    • White House adds hair-sniffing contest to Easter Egg Roll!
      It's about time again for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. What the resurrection of Jesus has to do with eggs, chocolate candy, jelly beans or peeps is beyond me. Jesus did not arise from the dead and walk through the walls of the tomb holding an Easter basket and looking for eggs laid… […]
    • Say it, media: DEMOCRATS are prosecuting Trump
      On March 25, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart uncorked a typical not-so-funny sermon about how Donald Trump overvaluing real estate properties was not a "victimless crime." Trump has been found liable for fraud despite no banker or financier ever claiming Trump victimized them. Then the New York Post reported talk-show host Tim Pool tweeted that… […]
    • Our subsidiarity vs. their intersectionality: How we win
      In their weekly podcast, Hollywood veteran Loy Edge and longtime WND columnist Jack Cashill skirt the everyday politics downstream and travel merrily upstream to the source of our extraordinary culture. The post Our subsidiarity vs. their intersectionality: How we win appeared first on WND.
    • The shocking beliefs of America's powerful 'elites'
      It is becoming increasingly clear that some of America's most serious problems can be traced back to our colleges and universities – or at least the ones educating the country's most powerful people. The Vietnam War era aside, it has traditionally been uncommon for events at universities to make national headlines. Absent something extraordinary, like… […]
    • Who is really behind Moscow terror attack?
      Was the Islamic State (ISIS) behind the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Moscow that killed 139 and wounded 182 on March 22, 2024, or not? The Islamic State did claim the attack, and the Western mainstream is agreed that the terror group was, indeed, behind it. On March 25, White House press secretary Karine… […]
    • Only Democrats get to lie on NBC News
      Ronna McDaniel, formerly chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, was recently hired and subsequently fired by NBC News when the "talent," unable to countenance even moderate dissent, revolted on air. The entire kerfuffle is unsurprising considering the state of modern "media." But one of the funniest moments of the McDaniel blowup came when host and… […]
    • Accept $40,000 loan offer from 'FIL'?
      Dear Dave, My wife and I owe about $40,000 on our mortgage. My father-in-law, who is a very nice and generous man, said he wants to pay off the house for us, then let us pay him back over time. We've borrowed much smaller amounts of money from him in the past, and we were… […]
  • Enter My WorldView