Iranian Protester's Death Sentence Struck Down By Supreme Court

Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani was convicted of "corruption on Earth," which carries the death penalty in Iran. (file photo)

Iran’s Supreme Court has overturned a death sentence handed to Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, arrested over his alleged involvement in the 2019 antiestablishment protests.

Babak Paknia, Vafaei Sani’s lawyer, said on June 8 that the Supreme Court had struck down his client’s death sentence “for a second time.” He did not say when the first death sentence had been overturned.

Paknia said the case would now go to a lower court.

Vafaei Sani was arrested in 2020 and convicted of “corruption on Earth” for allegedly “intentionally damaging” government buildings during the protests. “Corruption on Earth” is the most serious charge under Iran’s Islamic penal code and is punishable by death.

Last July, dozens of human rights activists appealed to Volker Turk, the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, to intervene and help stop Vafaei Sani’s execution.

The unrest in November 2019 was sparked by a sudden rise in fuel prices but quickly turned into nationwide protests against the Islamic republic.

The authorities clamped down on the protests and imposed a weeklong total shutdown of the Internet. According to Amnesty International, at least 321 people were killed by Iranian security forces during the protests.

Last month, Amnesty said Iran had carried out at least 853 executions in 2023 -- a 48 percent rise from the previous year.

Agnes Callamard, the rights group’s chief, said the spike in recorded executions worldwide was “primarily down to Iran,” where she said the ruling establishment sought "to instill fear in the population and tighten their grip on power."

“The Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offenses, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran's most marginalized and impoverished communities," she said.