The death sentence for murder given to an Iranian man detained while taking part in last year's anti-regime protests is "illegal," a lawyer for victims' families has said.
Mujahed Korkor (also known as Abbas Korkori) was sentenced to death for the murder of Kian Pirfalak, a 9-year-old boy, and several other people killed in the southwestern city of Izeh in November 2022.
They were killed during reprisals by government forces who opened fire on those protesting the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for breaking the country's strict Islamic dress code.
Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer representing several victims' families, said on X, formerly Twitter, that Pirfalak's parents had not identified Korkor as the killer of their son, had not filed a complaint against him, and had not demanded "qesas," or retribution, and that this made Korkor's death sentence "illegal."
Kian Pirfalak has become a symbol of Iran's brutal crackdown on protesters. His father was severely injured in the violence and hospitalized for two months, unaware of his son's death for weeks.
Iranian authorities have charged Korkor with using a military-style automatic weapon to kill Pirfalak and several other protesters, despite the boy's parents saying that the car they were riding in was shot at by security forces.
Furthermore, in a video released after partially recovering from his wounds, Meysam Pirfalak rejected the authorities' claim that Korkor had killed his son.
The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of the widespread protests triggered by Amini's death.
Iran Human Rights said that, as of December 2023, more than 700 people have been executed in Iran, with a marked increase in recent months.
Amnesty International says the regime in Tehran has executed more people than any other country in the world other than China so far this year.