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Unfair trials in IranThis is how the mullahs guarantee that they can hang all the accused
The accused do not see their defense attorneys until the trial begins. They didn’t choose the lawyers themselves anyway – the judiciary chose them.
27-year-old Sejed Mohammed Hosseini is also threatened with execution.
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The accused did not get a fair trial.
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That’s what it’s about
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Mohammed Mahdi Karami and Sejed Mohammed Hosseini were sentenced to death.
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But the men hardly had a fair trial.
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Defense attorneys are chosen by the Chief Justice – not by the accused themselves.
Die iranian judiciary confirmed the death sentences against 22-year-old Mohammed Mahdi Karami and 27-year-old Seyed Mohammed Hosseini on Tuesday. The young men are accused of killing a member of the paramilitary Basij militia during demonstrations in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran.
Whether the two condemned to death had a fair trial is questioned by their families. According to the Iran International news channel, accused demonstrators are not allowed to choose their own lawyers. They are represented at the trial by court-appointed lawyers, who in most cases they only meet on the day of the trial. The role of the lawyers in the courtroom is intended only to give the impression that the defendants had a fair trial.
Defender did not want to talk to relatives
According to the families of some demonstrators, lawyers made little effort to provide an adequate defense, saying in court only what was dictated to them by security officials to ensure a pre-determined verdict. The mullahs have been leaving young people for weeks execute on the assembly lineto scare the populace and keep them away from the protests, relatives say.
Mashallah Karami, father of the convicted Mohammed Mahdi Karami, told the Etemad newspaper that for a week after the verdict he tried to contact his son’s “counsel of trust” to appeal. However, he never received a reply. “The lawyer refused to give me the address of his office to go and tell him what my son told me so I can use it in his defense,” the father said. “It’s a matter of life and death for a young man. Shouldn’t the accused’s family have the opportunity to have their own lawyer?” Mashallah Karami said.
Up to $250,000 fee
Under Iranian law, persons on trial for crimes against national security can only be represented by lawyers “approved” by the Chief Justice himself. These range from offenses such as insulting the supreme leader or unauthorized assembly to “corruption on earth” or “waging war against God” – in the last two cases the death penalty is certain if convicted.
The Iranian judicial system is controlled by the mullahs in Tehran, and judges and prosecutors also work closely with them Iranian security and intelligence services together. Nemat Ahmadi, a lawyer and law professor, recently told the Arman-e Emruz newspaper that some of the hired lawyers work for extremely high fees. Even when hired by the court, they are said to have demanded up to $250,000 from the accused’s family, Ahmadi said.
A defense attorney, when asked if he had spoken to his client, admitted that he only met “half an hour” before the hearing.
During the wave of protests surrounding the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on September 16 Thousands arrested in Iran. After trials, two of the death sentences have already been carried out, four have been upheld by the Supreme Court, and six convicts are awaiting new trials.
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