Executions Not Related to Post-Election Events

The judiciary released a report yesterday detailing the cases of Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Alizamani.  The report does not mention the specific date of their arrest and has no reference to “participation in protests” under the listed charges.

Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Alizamani were executed on Thursday on charges of Moharebeh [armed struggle against the state] while their lawyers and family members announced that the executions were carrier out secretly and without regard to due process.  

Tehran’s judiciary announced yesterday that the two young men were arrested because of their membership in the “Iran Monarchy Council.”  The report listed Arash Rahmanipour’s charges as “conspiracy to set two holy sites on fire, conspiracy to cause explosions at Hosseiniye Ershad and Narmak Al-Nabi Mosque in Tehran, receiving instructions from members of the Monarchy Council on making explosives through email and chat, possession and testing of explosives, propaganda against the regime and religion, and distribution of articles from the leader of the Iran Monarchy Council among friends and relatives,” and stated that “he was tried on charges of Moharebeh because of membership in the terrorist Iran Monarchy Council group and active cooperation with it, as well as conspiracy to commit crimes against national security.”  

Mohammad Reza Alizamani was charged with “conspiracy to promote deviant and sacrilegious views, establishment of a television network against the Iranian regime with American budget in Iraq, teaching of how to make explosive bottles to individuals in Iran in order to cause explosions and terrorism in government buildings, and propaganda against the regime and religion through interviews with satellite networks,” and his indictment included items such as “Moharebeh, insulting holy beliefs, propaganda against the regime, conspiracy to commit acts against national security and illegally exiting the country.”  

The judiciary’s report contradicts a Thursday report by the same body stating, “Following the disturbances and counter-revolutionary acts of recent months, especially on Ashoura Day, various branches of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court examined charges of the accused and sentenced 11 individuals to death.  In this connection, the sentences of two of the individuals named Mohammad Reza Alizamani and Arash Rahmanipour, which had been approved by the appeals court, were carried out this morning, Thursday, and the convicts were hanged.”

In other words, the Thursday announcement by the judiciary introduced Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Alizamani as individuals charged with involvement in post-election events, but yesterday’s announcement by the judiciary bears no reference to that charge.  

Meanwhile, Tehran’s judiciary has not answered the question of why the two individuals, who were not arrested in connection with post-election events, were nevertheless tried in the same sham court session set up for post-election arrestees, next to journalists and reformist activists.  

On the other hand, the lawyers for the two young man have announced that their clients were arrested April and May of 2009, and were behind bars during the election and the ensuing events.  Yesterday’s announcement by the judiciary only notes that the individuals were arrested sometime in 2009, without mentioning a specific date.