Iran’s Judiciary Says Three Men Were Executed Over January Protests in Karaj

Iran’s judiciary said Hassan Divband, Hamid Kazemi and Reza Zanganeh were executed on the morning of November 8 in a case arising from protests in Karaj on January 8 and 9. The announcement said the Supreme Court had upheld the three men’s death sentences. The judiciary said the sentences “were carried out this morning.” It said the Karaj Revolutionary Court had sentenced the men to death and ordered the confiscation of all their assets. Authorities alleged that they had participated in armed attacks, damaged public and government premises, and destroyed electricity infrastructure, interrupting service. These allegations are the authorities’ account of the case. According to the announcement, Divband was arrested on January 11 after a report by the Intelligence Ministry’s Alborz provincial office. Ten other defendants were subsequently arrested. The judiciary said the other defendants received prison terms of five to 10 years and that all defendants had remained in detention since their arrests. It said the confiscation of assets was continuing. In a separate investigation published on September 10, Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center said they had documented 29 protest-related executions between March 18 and the end of August. They said 16 of those cases involved no allegation of killing. Their investigation, based on interviews with 12 people and a review of official announcements, court material and other evidence, described rushed proceedings and confessions tainted by torture. Those findings concerned the earlier cases examined in that report, rather than the three executions announced on November 8.