A 26-year-old Iranian man, Erfan Soltani, was set to be executed Wednesday, accused by the Islamic Republic’s authorities of taking part within the protests that swept throughout the nation for 2 weeks, in keeping with a human rights group in touch together with his household.
Hengaw, a company that displays unrest in Iran and has spoken together with his household, advised CBS Information on Wednesday that it was unable to substantiate whether or not Soltani had already been executed. The uncertainty over his destiny got here as Iran appeared to disregard a brand new warning from President Trump of “sturdy motion” in response to experiences of the regime hanging individuals detained throughout the protests.
The Iranian authorities “stated that he was arrested due to the protest, however we do not know if truly he participated within the protest, as a result of there’s completely no details about that or proof,” Hengaw consultant Awyar Shekhi advised CBS Information on Tuesday.
Soltani is a clothes vendor whose household lives close to Iran’s capital, Tehran, in keeping with Shekhi, who added that “his household has stated he was not a political activist, however he was a dissident of the federal government.”
Fb/Erfan Soltani
An ongoing web blackout has made it troublesome for journalists and rights teams to watch the protests in Iran or the federal government’s brutal crackdown on them, which sources contained in the nation say could have resulted within the deaths of some 12,000 individuals, and probably many extra. Greater than 2,600 individuals had been detained amid the unrest that started on December 28, in keeping with rights teams.
Now, there are fears that a lot of these in detention might be executed, regardless of President Trump’s warning on Tuesday to the Iranian regime that if it hangs protesters, the U.S. will “take very sturdy motion.”
Soltani was arrested on January 9, Shekhi advised CBS Information, including that he had been “disadvantaged from all of his fundamental rights to contact his household, to have a lawyer.”
4 days later, “the household obtained info that their son has obtained [a death] sentence, and with out declaring what was the fees [or] when the trial came about.”
Soltani’s household was not advised how his deliberate execution could be carried out, however the commonest technique in Iran is hanging, Hengaw advised CBS Information.
Soltani’s sister is a lawyer and has been pursuing all obtainable authorized avenues to defend her brother, “however the authorities have advised [her] there is no case to evaluate and we aren’t permitting that,” Shekhi stated.
The activist advised CBS Information the household was knowledgeable they’d be allowed to have a ultimate assembly with Soltani — a process usually reserved for the households of these being executed. Hengaw stated it had no affirmation that the assembly had taken place, however a supply near the household advised the group that a few of Soltani’s family members had been heading to the large Ghezel Hesar Jail, close to Tehran, late Tuesday evening. It obtained no additional updates.
“If we need to do a job, we should always do it now. If we need to do one thing, we’ve to do it rapidly,” Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei stated Wednesday in a video aired on state tv, of a dialogue he had with different judiciary officers in regards to the dealing with of detained protesters’ circumstances. “If it turns into late, two months, three months later, it would not have the identical impact. If we need to do one thing, we’ve to do this quick.”
Mr. Trump advised CBS Information’ Tony Dokoupil on Tuesday that the U.S. would act if the Iranian regime begins hanging protesters.
When requested to make clear what that motion might be, Mr. Trump stated: “Effectively — let’s outline it in Venezuela. Let’s outline it with [ISIS leader] al-Baghdadi. He was worn out. Let’s outline it with [Iranian military commander] Soleimani. And let’s outline it in Iran, the place — worn out their Iran nuclear menace in a interval of about quarter-hour as soon as the B-2s obtained there. And that was an entire obliteration because it seems, which is what I stated initially. Then some questioned it, and so they stated, ‘You understand, Trump was proper.’ So we have been proper about the whole lot. We do not need to see what’s occurring in Iran occur. And, you already know, in the event that they need to have protests, that is one factor. Once they begin killing 1000’s of individuals and now you are telling me about hanging – we’ll see how that works out for them. It is not gonna work out good.”
