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The state security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters gathered in the southwestern city of Behbahan in the oil-rich Khuzestan Province.

People came out to the streets on Thursday following days of social media protests against the impending death penalty for three young men who were arrested during the protests in November 2019.

Videos from Behbahan show demonstrators gathered outside a branch of the Meli Bank to protest against the execution of Amir-Hossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi.

Iran executed two Kurdish Inmates on Tuesday in the central prison of Urmia despite serious concerns that they were tortured into making bogus confessions.

The two prisoners, Diako Rasoulzadeh and Saber Sheikh Abdollah who were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad for “enmity against God” and being members of of the Komala, a banned Iranian Kurdish group based in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

They were transferred to solitary confinement on Monday in preparation for their execution.

The protests of people in Behbahan on Thursday evening, July 16th, which led to the arrest of at least one young woman, Farzaneh Ansarifar were covered by the world press. Reuters news agency covered the incident with the following headline: “Iran security forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters”.
Reuters wrote, Iranian security forces fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse demonstrators gathered in the southwestern city of Behbahan, witnesses told Reuters, and there was a heavy presence of forces in other cities.”

The state security forces killed a 13-year-old boy in the city of Omidiyeh in Khuzestan Province of southwest Iran.

The agents shot Omid Eidani in the head because he confronted them when they tried to arrest his brother on Monday, July 7.
He died at the hospital hours later due to the severity of his injuries.

The state-run media tried to justify the deliberate shooting and described the teen and his friends as rioters, quoting Mehran Rafei, regime governor of Omidiyeh, as saying: “The police of Omidiyeh had arrested a rioter in the town of Yasser in Omidiyeh and some of his friends who were thugs engaged with the police to help the suspect escape.”

A revolutionary court in Tehran has sentenced seven political activists to prison.
The verdict was issued by the Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court headed by judge Seyyed Ali Mazloum.

Farangis Masloumi was sentenced to 6 years, after being charged with “assembly and collusion to commit a crime through contacting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)” and “propaganda activities against the system and for the benefit of dissident groups”.

If this sentence is upheld at the appeal stage she must serve five years behind bars according to Article 134 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, which requires defendants to serve the maximum punishment for the charge that carries the longest sentence in cases involving multiple sentences.

Forty-four days after the execution of Kurd political prisoner Hedayat Abdullahpour, his family learned that he was killed by a firing squad on May 11.

Based on a death certificate handed over to Hedayat Abdullahpour’s family, they confirmed today that his execution was carried out in a barrack in the northwestern town of Oshnavieh.

Farhad Abdullahpour, Hedayat’s brother, confirmed the news and said: “The registry office of Oshnavieh has issued a death certificate for Hedayat Abdullahpour, according to which Hedayat was executed on May 11.”

The death certificate states the cause of death was a “collision of a hard object or a bullet.”

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences against three young men arrested during the November 2019 protests.

Amirhossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi were sentenced to death after Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted them of several charges including “enmity against God” (moharebeh).

On 18 February 2020, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson accused them of being “riot leaders” who had “set fire to banks and petrol stations during the nationwide protests and had filmed their acts and sent the videos to foreign media”.

Zeinab Jalalian, who was transferred from Khoy Prison to Qarchak Prison on April 29, has announced that she will go on a hunger strike in the coming days if she is not transferred back to Khoy Prison. The political prisoner was recently diagnosed with the Coronavirus but is being held in the quarantine ward of Qarchak Prison with no access to medical treatment.

On June 16, 2020, a Tehran-based human rights activist posted the news about Zeinab Jalalian’s transfer to Qarchak Prison on his Facebook page. “Despite being infected with the Coronavirus, the conditions of her imprisonment have not changed. Even when she was taken to the hospital to be tested for the Coronavirus, she was kept in handcuffs, including during the examination. She has sent letters to many authorities, but no one has paid any attention to her difficult circumstances,” he wrote.

Political prisoner Zahra Safaei was threatened with assault and murder in Qarchak Prison by ordinary criminals hired by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Three prisoners incited by Ministry of Intelligence agents threatened Zahra Safaei to death on Sunday, 13 June.

Based on Article 69 of the State Prisons Organization’s regulations, authorities are required to divide prisoners Article 69 of the State Prisons Organization’s regulations states: “All convicts, upon being admitted to walled prisons or rehabilitation centres, will be separated based on the type and duration of their sentence, prior record, character, morals and behaviour, in accordance with decisions made by the Prisoners Classification Council.”