On Sunday, February 23, 2025, the Supreme Court of Iran’s regime rejected the request for retrial of the death sentences of political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, and thus they are in danger of execution.
Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were sentenced to death on September 16, 2024, by the executioner judge Iman Afshari, the head of Branch 26 of the Counter-Revolution Court of Tehran, on charges of “rebellion, waging war against God, corruption on earth, membership in the PMOI, collecting classified information, assembly and collusion against national security, and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.” These criminal sentences were upheld on January 7, 2025, in the Supreme Court of the Mullahs.
Behrouz Ehsani, 70 years old, who was a political prisoner in the 1980s, was arrested on December 6, 2022, in Tehran and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he was tortured. After receiving the death sentence, he wrote in a message to the people of Iran: “…This execution regime can only be expected to do this. I… will not bargain with anyone over my life and am ready to sacrifice my insignificant life for the cause of the liberation of the Iranian people…”
Mehdi Hassani, 48 years old, father of three, was arrested on September 11, 2022, in Zanjan and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he was severely tortured.
Amnesty International, in its calls on January 16 and January 23, 2025, called the death sentences against Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani extremely unfair and called for the sentences to be overturned.
This development comes against the backdrop of an uptick in executions in Iran in the past year and an alarming increase in the use of capital punishment against dissidents. Since the beginning of the presidency of Masoud Pezeshkian six months ago, the regime has carried out more than 850 executions.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has called on the High Commissioner and the UN Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran to take immediate action to overturn the death sentences of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani and other political prisoners facing execution.