Iranian regime authorities have informed Mohammad Javad Vafa’i Thani, political prisoner and supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), of his death sentence for the third time, which had been issued by the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad.
Mohammad Javad, a 29-year-old boxing champion and coach at clubs in Mashhad, was arrested in March 2020 in Mashhad and subjected to severe physical and psychological torture. In January 2022, he was sentenced to death by Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad on charges of “corruption on earth, arson, and destruction of special places, including the building of the Government Punishment Organization.”
This verdict was referred to Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad by one of the branches of the regime’s Supreme Court in December 2022. On July 19, 2023, this branch sentenced Mohammad Javad to death for the second time.
At the time, in an urgent letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, 96 international NGOs, current and former United Nations officials, human rights and legal experts, and Nobel laureates called for immediate intervention to prevent the imminent execution of Vafa’i Thani.
In May 2024, the Supreme Court once again referred the case to a peer branch. On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, for the third time, his death sentence was issued by two criminal judges named Saadi Makan and Yazdan Khah, and it was communicated to Mohammad Javad in writing. This sentencing process has violated even the judicial norms of the Iranian regime in cases like this.
Earlier in the same week, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced political prisoners and PMOI supporters Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani to death.
These two political prisoners were sentenced to death on charges of “baghi (rebellion), moharebeh (waging war against God), corruption on Earth, membership in the PMOI, collecting classified information, and conspiracy against national security.”
In a message from prison Behrouz Ehsani, 69, wrote, “After 22 months of uncertainty, a death sentence has been issued against me without any evidence. This executioner regime could not do otherwise… Our sentence was announced to us on the second anniversary of the 2022 uprising… Aside from political prisoners, every day, ordinary prisoners are tortured, charged with crimes and accusations that the regime itself is responsible for. They are the defenseless victims of this regime and its conditions… I ask my dear compatriots, international communities, and human rights organizations to take action against executions in Iran today, for tomorrow will be too late.”
Message from Behrouz Ehsani, political prisoner sentenced to death by Iran's regime for supporting the PMOI:
Honorable and heroic people of Iran,
I, Behrouz Ehsani, currently imprisoned in Ward 4 of Evin Prison, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence in Aban 1401… pic.twitter.com/nno7P3gxJ4— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 20, 2024
The International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) also issued a statement, raising the alarm on the death sentences issued by Iran’s regime against PMOI supporters.
“The ISJ views these death sentences as part of an ongoing campaign by the Iranian regime to suppress dissent and intimidate those who advocate for change, particularly during significant periods such as the anniversary of the 2022 uprising,” the statement reads in part. “The lack of a strong international response to these and other human rights abuses is perceived by the regime as implicit consent to continue such practices.”
The ISJ called for the Independent Impartial Fact-finding mission (FMII) to visit Iranian prisons, interact directly with prisoners, and particularly meet with political prisoners to accurately report on and address the human rights abuses occurring within the prisons.
In an attempt to quell the explosive anger of society and out of fear of the growing support among youth for the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance, the regime sees torture and execution as its only solution.
In a statement on September 19, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, the International Fact-Finding Committee, the European Union, and its member states to take immediate action to free political prisoners and save the lives of Mohammad Javad Vafaee Thani, Behrouz Ehsani, Mehdi Hassani, and other prisoners facing execution.