An Iranian man who was previously convicted and sentenced to death for killing a member of the Iranian security forces during the massive protests in 2022 has been secretly executed, according to various informed sources.
21-year-old Milad Zohrevand was executed on the morning of November 23rd at a prison in the western city of Hamadan. Norway-based Hengaw, an organization that focuses on the human rights conditions of the Kurdish minority in Iran, said they received reports that Zohrevand was executed.
On November 23rd, 2023, the life of Milad Zohrehvand, a 22-year-old, was stolen in Iran's Malayer Hamedan province, where he was executed without any forewarning given to his family. His arrest during a protest in October 2022 marked the beginning of a harrowing journey that… pic.twitter.com/uQnqCltIHW
— IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) November 23, 2023
The organization also said that Zohrevand received no prior notification of his imminent execution, and he was not given a chance to meet his family for the last time before he was put to death. Sources also pointed out that Zohrevand was denied the right to a lawyer throughout his detention and trial.
Although the Iranian judiciary did not confirm Zohrevand’s execution, who was arrested after killing a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) during the massive 2022 protests that swept much of Iran, Zohrevand would be the eighth prisoner to be executed after last year’s demonstrations, which sparked after a 22-year-old woman died under police custody after being arrested for improperly wearing the hijab.
Two informed sources also told BBC Persian that while Zohrevand was executed at the Hamadan Central Prison on the dawn of November 23rd, prison authorities have not yet handed over the body to his family.
May he rest in peace! He’s freed now forever! #IRGCterrorists #notoislamicrepublic
— FDR (@FDR673665754191) November 26, 2023
A Hamadan prosecutor said last week that a branch of the Iranian Supreme Court had confirmed the death sentence that was handed over to a defendant convicted of murdering Ali Nazari, a member of the IRGC’s intelligence service.
While the prosecutor did not name the defendant, legal collective Dadban confirmed through cited sources that the defendant was Zohrevand. They also added that his family had been pressured not to publicize the case.
Prosecutors accuse Zohrevand of being one of a group of five masked men who shot Nazari as he confronted students protesting at the Malayer Faculty of Medical Sciences last October 2022.
I hope the people of Iran can overcome these awful events. From young women being killed for not wearing their clothes properly to young men speaking up for freedom. I hope the people can get their country back.
— DJ Trevi (@DJTrevi) November 28, 2023
Hengaw condemned the execution, saying that it "not only violates the right to life but also egregiously infringes upon the human rights of the detainee and his family.” They also noted that the IRGC pressured Iranian authorities to carry out the execution.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also warned in a report that in seven previous cases involving Iranian authorities executing protesters, information "indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfill the requirements for due process and a fair trial.”
"Access to adequate and timely legal representation was frequently denied, with reports of coerced confessions, which may have been obtained as a result of torture," the report also added.
