Six political prisoners have been sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran on charges of “armed rebellion through membership in anti-regime groups.”
Iman Afshari, the judge of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, sentenced Akbar Daneshvar Kar, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghabadi Bistooni, Vahid Bani Amerian, and Abolhasan Montazer to death.
Two other prisoners, Ali Taghavi Sangdehi and Mojtaba Taghavi Sangdehi, were sentenced to two and three years of imprisonment, respectively, on charges of “membership in anti-regime groups.”
The charges against these prisoners include “membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK),” “gathering and conspiring to disrupt national security,” “armed uprising against the government,” “forming a group or organization to disrupt national security,” and “destroying public property using a launcher weapon.”
In Iranian regime law, “armed rebellion” (Baghi) refers to encroaching on the rights of others or rebelling against the “Imam” or Islamic ruler.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the opposition coalition to which the PMOI belongs, called on the United Nations Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, and other relevant UN bodies, as well as the European Union and its member states, to “take immediate action to save these prisoners’ lives and secure the release of all political prisoners.”
Several human rights organizations issued a joint statement on November 28 calling for the immediate annulment of all death sentences for political prisoners in Iran.
The signatories of this statement emphasized that following the nationwide uprising in 2022, the Iranian regime has initiated a new wave of executions aimed at instilling fear in society.
