Watchdog

The whereabouts of five female university students in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj are unknown following their arrest earlier this month after they took part in a rally against the execution of protesters, the Union Council of Iranian Students said.

The women were arrested by security forces between December 10 and 14, and the council said no information has been released about which security agency arrested them or their whereabouts and condition.

The council called their detention a kidnapping.

Bita Veisi was the first to be arrested after the rally at Sanandaj Technical College on December 10 in protest of the execution of Mohsen Shekar two days earlier. The students chanted slogans demanding the return of his body and "Death to the dictator."

Video images released later the same day purportedly show that the students left the campus after an attack by security forces and continued their protest in the streets of the city.

Shekari was executed after an appeal of his sentence on a charge of injuring a security officer was rejected by the Supreme Court. Human rights groups said Shekari's sentence was based on a coerced confession after a grossly unfair process and a sham trial.

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The other four women -- Tina Khedri, Sana Khodamoradi, Rezvan Bazaniqaleh, and Hanieh Chahardoli -- were arrested by the security forces in front of the university dormitory without a judicial warrant.

The unrest sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody has swept the country over the past three months.

Amini died after being detained for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly. Eyewitness reports said she was beaten while being arrested by police, while the authorities said she died of "underlying diseases."

Security forces have waged a violent crackdown on protesters around the country, killing scores, injuring hundreds, and detaining several thousand people.

As the scattered antigovernment protests rage across Iran for a 12th week, universities and schools have become the main venue for clashes between protesters and the authorities.

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The activist HRANA news agency said that as of December 15 at least 637 students had been arrested during the unrest.

Several reports during the past three months have been published about the bodies of dead students being found at various universities, including those in Shiraz, Ahvaz, and Tehran.

In the latest case, relatives of Donya Farhadi, a student living in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, said on December 15 that after she disappeared for a week her body was found by the Karun River.

In most cases, the authorities say the cause of death of these students is an accident, suicide, or fall from a height without providing further details.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

The lawyer of an anti-government Iranian protestor sentenced to death says a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court has denied him access to case material to defend his client.

Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani said in a tweet on December 15 that, when he went to the court to meet with Mohammad Hosseini and appeal his death sentence the court did not allow him access to case material or to file a power of attorney document "contrary to the law on criminal procedure."

"This is a clear violation of the rights of a human being sentenced to death," the lawyer added.

Hosseini previously said he was tortured to confess to security forces in the case of the death of a member of the Basij paramilitary force during nationwide demonstrations.

Authorities have accused 16 protesters, including Hosseini, of the death of a Basij member during a demonstration. All deny the charges, saying they were being targeted for their part in the nationwide protests.

Five people so far have been handed death sentences in the case, while another 11 people, including three minors, have been given lengthy jail terms.

The incident happened on November 3 in Karaj, the capital of Alborz Province, when mourners were paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi, at a cemetery to mark 40 days after she was killed in the city, amid nationwide protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Prosecutors say Ruhollah Ajamian, 27, was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to Najafi.

Human rights organizations have condemned the death sentences being handed down against these protesters in Iran after what they have termed "sham trials" that were held over six days.

Among the others sentenced to death in the case are Hamid Karahasanlou, a doctor whose brother had had earlier said that officers had had severely tortured his sibling and sister-in-law.

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The verdict comes after weeks of increased threats by authorities that they will react harshly to any unrest. Lawmakers have pushed the judiciary to render harsh penalties -- including the death penalty -- in trials for those arrested during protests over the death of the 22-year-old Amini.

So far, Iranian authorities have followed through with their threats by executing two protesters. Majidreza Rahnavard was hanged in a public execution on December 12 -- just 23 days after he was arrested. He had been convicted of killing two members of Iran's security forces. The group Iran Human Rights said Rahnavard's sentencing was based on "coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial."

Meanwhile, Moshen Shekari was executed publicly on December 8 after an appeal of his sentence was rejected by Iran's Supreme Court. He was accused of allegedly wounding a security officer.

Since Amini’s death, Iranians have flooded the streets across the country in protest, with women and even schoolgirls making unprecedented shows of support in the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.

The regime has blamed Western governments for the unrest and has responded to the protests with a bloody crackdown that human rights groups say has left more than 400 dead and hundreds more injured. Thousands more have been arrested, including many protesters, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, and others, amid concerns about the charges against them.

Several members of the security forces have also reportedly been killed.

The activist HRANA news agency said that, as of November 29, at least 459 protesters had been killed during the unrest, including 64 minors, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization says the number of executions in Iran exceeds 500 this year.

​Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda