Shahid Alikhani sq. is a nondescript a part of the historic Iranian metropolis of Isfahan. Its sole declare to prominence is the grand entrance to one of many metropolis's important metro stations.
However now it has grow to be a spot of pilgrimage for supporters of the high-profile Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani who concern the younger man may very well be executed within the sq., the place an execution platform has been put in, a witness near Nasr-Azadani in Iran advised CNN.
Terrified Iranian households consider that whereas the Western world is preoccupied with Christmas celebrations, a wave of executions within the nation is imminent following the current protests which have swept the nation following the loss of life in September of Mahsa Amini, a younger lady detained by Iran's infamous morality police for being accused of improperly sporting her hijab.
In collaboration with the activist group 1500Tasvir, CNN has verified paperwork, video, witness testimony and statements from contained in the nation which counsel that at the very least 43 folks, together with Nasr-Azadani, may face imminent execution.
Authorities have already executed at the very least two folks in reference to protests in Iran final month, one in all whom was hanged publicly.
Witness testimonies and official paperwork, reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, present proof that implies a rushed judicial course of in Iran; costs which may carry the loss of life sentence, typically handed down in a single sitting.
Nasr-Azadani is accused of involvement within the killing of three safety officers, together with two volunteer Basij militia members, throughout protests in Isfahan on November 16, Iranian state media IRNA reported final week.
In accordance with state media, town's chief justice, Asadullah Jafari, stated Nasr-Azadani had been charged with Baghi – or rioting towards authorities. Beneath Iran's penal code, the sentence carries the loss of life penalty.
Since then, a witness to his arrest stated they hoped Nasr-Azadani can be freed, however however visited Shahid Alikhani sq. each day to see if authorities would present up with the footballer and execute him on the scaffold. "From the day he was arrested, authorities advised us he can be launched by the top of the week," the witness tells CNN.
Then the data dried up. Weeks later the witness, who's near Nasr-Azadani, says authorities advised them that the 26-year-old may very well be hanged at Shahid Alikhani sq..
"The thought that they might execute him any day is admittedly very laborious for us … and the each day information we preserve listening to is worrisome."
Nasr-Azadani's household was initially unaware of the rationale for his arrest, the witness tells CNN, and officers wouldn't share info of his situation. These near him had been additionally warned to "preserve quiet" about his case in the event that they wished to see him launched sooner, the witness tells CNN.
The courtroom final week stated it obtained "video and ample documentation that show he [Nasr-Azadani] is a part of an armed group" and that the footballer had confessed to his crimes, state media IRNA reported.
'I actually concern they may execute Majid'
Earlier CNN investigations have discovered prisoners have been subjected to torture and sexual assault. Human rights teams say torture-tainted "confessions" have been used towards the defendants in sham trials.
Iranian officers have defended the trials however. In current days, one Iranian MP stated he believes that these concerned within the present unrest have to be executed inside 5 to 10 days after their arrest. CNN obtained no official response from Iranian officers to its request for remark.
One other man, Majid Kazemi, was additionally accused of involvement within the killing of three safety forces in Isfahan, the doc obtained by CNN and 1500Tasvir exhibits. Kazemi advised others he was coerced into confessing his involvement in legal acts throughout his interrogation.
"He didn't confess to having accomplished any of the issues he was charged with, and they also beat him up severely," a supply near Kazemi tells CNN.
A launched prisoner from the power the place Majid is being stored advised the supply his arm, leg and nostril had been damaged.
Majid's courtroom session is about to happen throughout the vacation season, the supply tells CNN.
"It will coincide with a time through which the worldwide neighborhood is observing these holy days, and the Islamic Republic regime will reap the benefits of being faraway from the watchful eyes of the world.
"I actually concern they may execute Majid."
In a recording from inside a Tehran jail, inmate Sahand Noor Mahammadzade speaks about how he was coerced into confession." The choose that was there advised me to say that I don't protest (object) and gave me three pages that I signed, whereas they did not even enable me to learn any of them.
"The second time they took me in for interrogation, my costs had utterly modified. That second cost levied towards me contained the time period 'moharabe.'"
"They advised me to enter the prosecutor's workplace and upon getting into he stated: 'It's evident from his face. Execute this one!'"
In a swiftly photographed doc from inside Isfahan regional courtroom obtained and verified by 1500Tasvir and CNN, it's revealed that at the very least 10 folks in Isfahan have additionally been charged with Moharabe (a warfare towards God), spreading corruption on Earth and different costs – all of which carry the loss of life penalty.
The cost, launched after the 1979 revolution, is repeatedly imposed towards people who find themselves accused of committing acts towards the federal government.
A number of different witness testimonies and official paperwork despatched by households, and collectively authenticated by CNN and 1500Tasvir, paint an image that exhibits how the Iranian regime is dashing the judicial course of.
Households and activists say solely court-appointed legal professionals are allowed to signify defendants who're additionally refused the appropriate to enchantment. And if the cost is handed down, the Iranian penal code states they might get the loss of life sentence in a single sitting – although not carried out instantly and most sentences are appealed.
Soheil Jahangiri is likely one of the Iranians to obtain such a sentence. Members of his household advised CNN they have not heard from him in over a month. They are saying officers didn't allow Jahangiri an unbiased legal professional.
"Judiciary officers have alluded to 2 costs: Baghi and Moharabe. Soheil may face both of those costs that carry the loss of life penalty," a member of the family stated.
"We're fairly frightened that, with the start of the Christmas holidays and a lower in political strain on the federal government, executions will start anew, and I believe that Soheil's life and the lives of quite a few political prisoners are in peril.
"We do not need to see our children executed whereas the media is silent," they added.
A bitter finish
CNN has verified that dozens of others – a few of them youngsters – face related costs in reference to the protests and are prone to execution.
Within the regional courtroom of Khuzestan, west of Isfahan, CNN has confirmed – along side 1500Tasvir – via courtroom paperwork that 23 folks have been charged with crimes punishable by loss of life.
In Karaj, close to Tehran, CNN and 1500Tasvir have confirmed 5 extra Iranians are going through execution. Amongst them is 21-year-old Iranian-Kurdish Karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami, whose dad and mom have additionally gone public with their plea.
"Please, I urge of you to please carry the execution order from my son's file," his father says in a video shared to social media.
In messages shared with CNN his household says Karami was not solely sentenced to loss of life, he was tortured in jail.
In one other message shared with CNN, they stated that regardless of his alleged ill-treatment, Karami was in good spirits however "bodily broken" having suffered torture.
For these awaiting execution, the wait behind bars might be insufferable. Simply this week, 27-year-old Iranian-Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin tried suicide whereas in detention.
In his final music video, Yasin rapped about inequality and oppression in Iran, singing "they closed my throat violently. They banned magnificence. They reversed me like an animal. I'm not glad with silence."
Simply two days in the past Yasin tried to finish his life, after weeks of tolerating the cruel jail situations in northern Iran, sources within the jail advised CNN.
CNN has verified that at the very least 43 detainees are going through execution. Statements from each Iranian officers and in Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, point out the names of these charged and present that the actual quantity is presumably as excessive as 100. Most of the households, although, had been too scared to talk to us instantly to substantiate the names talked about within the media.
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Because the yr approaches its bitter finish, for a lot of Iranians their determined pleas linger on.
In a video made public and shared with CNN, the mom of brothers Farzad and Farhad Tahazade, aged 23 and 24, despatched this message to the world:
"Please hear my sons' cries for assist. My sons are younger and so they have kids awaiting their launch. Please save them. For the love of God, save my sons."
In Iran, a girl places herself at nice hazard by publicly talking out towards authorities on behalf of her kids. However it's a threat many dad and mom really feel they don't have any alternative however to take.