PRISONERS AT IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION [Iran 10.25]

Dear Mr. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,

I am deeply concerned that Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, are at imminent risk of execution. On January 7, 2025, the authorities notified their lawyers that their convictions and death sentences, issued on September 15, 2024, after a grossly unfair trial, have been upheld by the Supreme Court. They were sentenced to death on charges of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi), “enmity against God” (moharebeh), and “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz) in relation to their alleged support of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), a banned opposition group. Their lawyers have applied for a judicial review of their case. On January 26, 2025, without prior notice to them or their lawyers and families, they were transferred from Evin prison to Ghezel Hesar prison, Alborz province, where authorities move prisoners for execution. The authorities have given no information to their families and lawyers since the transfer, raising serious concerns that they plan to execute them imminently.

Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Behrouz Ehsani on November 28, 2022 in Tehran and Mehdi Hassani on September 9, 2022 in Zanjan province. According to informed sources, agents interrogated them without lawyers present and subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings and prolonged solitary confinement, to extract self-incriminating statements. They were tried jointly in a five-minute trial session on August 10, 2024 in grossly unfair proceedings before Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. They were denied access to their lawyers for nearly two years, from the time of arrest until weeks before trial. Their torture allegations were not investigated, and they were denied trial before by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal. Both men have denied the charges against them.

I urge you to immediately halt any plans to execute Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani and quash their convictions and sentences; grant them regular access to their families, independently chosen lawyers, and to any adequate medical care they may need; and protect them from further torture and other ill-treatment and investigate their torture allegations.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]