Two protesters, Mojahed Kourkour and Reza Rasaei, are at imminent risk of execution in connection with nationwide anti-government protests that erupted following the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody in Iran.

Mojahed and Reza were sentenced to death in different cases after sham and unfair trials that bore no resemblance to meaningful judicial proceedings, including the denial of access to a lawyer of their choice and admission of tortured-tainted “confessions” as evidence. 

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long record of executing protesters using trumped-up charges and torture-tainted confessions. 

 

About Mojahed Kourkour: 

Mojahed Kourkour—also known as Abbas Kourkouri—was arrested during the nationwide anti-government protests in Izeh, southwest Iran on December 20, 2022. 

In early April 2023, a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz sentenced him to death on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz) and “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi). 

According to Amnesty International, his grossly unfair sham trial relied on torture-tainted “confessions” obtained while he was subjected to enforced disappearance. The authorities denied him access to his independently chosen lawyer.

Mojahed sustained injuries to his knee from live ammunition and his arm from grenade shrapnel during his arrest. 

He told his family during infrequent, brief phone calls that “they [authorities] will kill me” and said he was in a great deal of pain and needed medical care. 

He also said that authorities were forcibly administering chemical substances to him.

The authorities accused Mojahed of involvement in the killing of a nine-year-old child, Kian Pirfalak, during protests in Izeh on 16 November 2022. However, according to Amnesty International’s investigations, plainclothes security officials used unlawful lethal force and fatally fired live ammunition at Kian.

The child’s parents, uncle, and lawyer have repeatedly stated that Kian‘s killing was carried out by security forces and they have no complaints against Mojahed Kourkourir. 

During Kian’s funeral on November 18, 2022, his mother publicly described the details of the fatal incident and said: "Hear it from me about how the shooting happened so they [the authorities] can’t say it was by ‘terrorists’ because they are lying.”

After waking from a coma, Meysam Pirflak, Kian's father, identified Eidi (Mohammad) Alipour as the person responsible for his child's death. Alipour was in charge of the field command on the night of Kian’s shooting.

Despite being the main suspect, authorities have never investigated Alipour to this day. In response to the authorities arresting Mojahed Kourkour, Kian’s father said: “I have not and will not file a complaint against Mojahed Kourkour...because my wife and I saw with our own eyes that the security forces, under the command of Eidi Alipour, opened fire on our car, wounded me, and killed my son."

The regime in Iran has a documented history of “systematically covering up and concealing their crimes and denying responsibility for the unlawful killings of children perpetuated by its security forces.”

Authorities instead propagate “narratives claiming that children were killed by ‘terrorists’ or ‘rioters’ or that their deaths were not connected to protests but rather a result of suicides or accidents.”

 

About Reza Rasaei:

Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei is a 34-year-old protester from Iran’s oppressed Kurdish and Yaresan ethnic and religious minorities, respectively. 

He was arrested on November 24, 2022, in Shahriar, Tehran province, and is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the anti-government protests that sparked after the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody in September 2022.

According to Amnesty International, during interrogations, Reza was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including electric shocks, suffocation by putting a plastic bag over his head, and severe beatings to compel his forced “confessions.”

Amnesty International said: “His right to a fair trial was flagrantly violated, including to access a lawyer of his choosing from the time of arrest, to meaningfully challenge the legality of his detention and to be tried by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal.”

After an unfair trial that relied on tortured-tainted confessions as “evidence,” Reza was sentenced to death on October 7, 2023, for involvement in the killing of Nader Beyrami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence during a protest in the city of Sahneh, Kermanshah, last year. 

Reza has repeatedly denied involvement, including during the trial, when he told the judge that his “confessions” were forcibly obtained under torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations without conducting investigations.

Reza only met his lawyer for the first time at trial, which took place over three sessions. Despite retracting his forced “confession” and the lack of evidence, his death sentence was upheld by Branch 17 of the Supreme Court on December 24, 2023. 

His co-accused were incentivized to testify against him, and as a result, they were either released or had their sentences reduced. One of them later stated that he had never witnessed Reza stabbing the victim, and his testimony against him was given "out of fear." 

Reza, however, did not testify against anyone. 

 

Our demands: 

• We urge the Islamic Republic to immediately quash the conviction and death sentences against Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri and Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei.
• We urge the Islamic Republic to immediately grant Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri and Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei access to his family, independently chosen lawyer, and adequate medical care. 
• We urge the international community and world leaders to pressure authorities in Iran to halt all executions connected to protests and immediately investigate all allegations of torture.