Iran denies plan to execute detained protester
Iran’s judiciary has denied planning the execution of a man arrested in connection with recent protests in the country.
Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw said earlier this week that the family of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani was told he would face execution on Wednesday, just days after he was detained.
On Wednesday, Hengaw quoted them as saying that Soltani’s execution had been “postponed” but warned that there remained “serious and ongoing concerns” for his life.
“That’s good news. I hope it continues!” said US President Donald Trump, who warned Iran not to execute protesters.
Iran’s judiciary said that Sultani faces charges of “collusion against national security” and “propaganda activities against the institution” and that these cannot be punished with the death penalty, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
He described foreign media outlets’ reports that Sultani was facing execution as “a clear act of fake news.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said in an interview with US television that there were “no plans” to hang people.
It comes as speculation about possible US military strikes grows, after Trump threatened to take “very strong action” if the executions were carried out.
He told reporters on Wednesday that “very important sources on the other side” had informed him that “the killings in Iran have stopped and there are no execution plans.”
Later Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department said Trump had ordered it to impose new sanctions on five senior Iranian officials he accused of being “architects of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.”
They included Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who Treasury said coordinated the response to the protests, as well as commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and police forces in the western province of Lorestan and the southern province of Fars, where Treasury said security personnel killed scores of civilians.
Hengaw told the BBC that Soltani had been denied access to a lawyer and that his family was unaware of any formal charges against him.
Soltani, a clothing store owner, was arrested at his home last Thursday in connection with protests in the northern city of Fardis, west of Tehran, according to the group and his family.
But the judiciary said he was arrested on Saturday during “riots” and is being held in a prison in the neighboring city of Karaj, according to IRIB.
Responding to the judiciary’s statement, the director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said that death penalty threats against detainees and their families were not unusual.
“Meanwhile, the risk of execution remains for thousands of protesters detained following statements made by Iran’s judiciary chief in recent days,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam added.
Chief judge Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei advocated for the speedy trial and punishment of the arrested “rioters”.
“Elements beheading people on the streets or burning people alive should be tried and punished as soon as possible,” he said in a video on Wednesday. “If we don’t do it quickly, it won’t have the same impact.”
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Amin Hossein Rahimi said that any person arrested during the protests between last Thursday and Saturday was “absolutely guilty”.
Over the past three years, Iran has executed at least 12 men sentenced to death in connection with the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” protests. Human rights groups said the convictions followed “confessions” tainted by torture and grossly unfair trials.
The current wave of protests began when shopkeepers in Tehran went on strike over the rising cost of living and the depreciation of the currency.
They quickly spread across the country and opposed Iran’s religious institutions, especially Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Among the slogans chanted by the demonstrators were “Death to the dictator” and “Seyyed Ali”. [Khamenei] “It will be overthrown this year.”
The protests escalated significantly last Thursday and were met with lethal force by authorities, masked by a near-total shutdown of internet and communications services.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 2,453 protesters have been killed since the unrest began, as well as 14 children, 156 people affiliated with security forces or the government, and 14 uninvolved civilians.
Another 18,470 protesters were reportedly arrested.
Human Rights Iran says it has confirmed that at least 3,428 protesters have been killed by security forces so far and estimates that nearly 20,000 people have been arrested.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Thursday that a Canadian citizen “died in Iran at the hands of Iranian authorities,” without identifying her.
“The peaceful protests of the Iranian people demanding their voices be heard against the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations have led to the regime’s blatant disregard for human life.”
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also said that on January 10, Iranian Red Crescent staff member Emir Ali Latifi was killed “in the line of duty in Gilan province” and five of his colleagues were injured.
