Iranian Police Official Has Death Sentence Overturned

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence imposed on a police officer accused of killing a protester during the 2022 uprising. 

Mehran Samak was fatally shot in the head in Bandar Anzali on the evening of November 29, 2022, amid protests that followed the match between the US and Iranian national football teams in the World Cup in Qatar. 

The lawyer for Samak's family identified the perpetrator of the killing as Jafar Javanmardi, the then-commander of the police force in Anzali Bandar. 

Javanmardi was arrested in December 2022, and a court later sentenced the officer to death. 

However, on January 15, the Judiciary’s Information Center announced that the Supreme Court had overturned the decision following objections raised by the defendant and his lawyer.

The case was sent back to court for a new trial.

Iranian authorities cracked down hard on the monthslong protests that erupted in September 2022.

More than 500 people were killed and over 22,000 others were unlawfully detained in the clampdown, activists say. 

Following biased trials, the judiciary handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters. At least eight of them have been executed so far.