Six Iranians Handed Death Penalty Over 2018 Killing Of Security Forces

An Iranian court has sentenced six men to death and six others to a total of 70 years in prison for their alleged involvement in the 2018 killing of four members of the security forces in the southern province of Khuzestan, activists say.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization reported that the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court handed capital punishment to Ali Mojdam, 39, Moein Khanfari, 29, Mohammadreza Moghadam, 30, Seyed Salem Alboshukeh, 38, Seyed Adnan Ghobishavi, 26, and Habib Daris, 36.

The defendants faced charges including "waging war against God" and "acting against national security."

Ther are being held in Ward 5 of Ahvaz's Shiban prison.

The convicts handed prison terms included 35-year-old Fares Amouri, Jasem Al-Boghbish, Qasem Moghadam, Eskandar Moghadam, Ra’ad Maniat and Towfiq Maniat.

The “confessions” used to convict the six men were said to have been obtained under torture, beatings and threats and were broadcast on television. 

The case stems from the killing of two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the city of Abadan and the killing of a police colonel and a conscript in Sarbandar during protests in 2018 against discrimination toward Iran’s ethnic Arab minority.