The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan has exonerated posthumously 198 individuals convicted by the Soviet regime in the 1920s-1930s for "counter-revolutionary actions, armed uprisings, terrorism, banditry and espionage, and anti-Soviet activities."

The Supreme Court announced on May 6 its decision to exonerate the men, many of whom were sentenced to death and others who were incarcerated for many years.

The exonerated were from Uzbekistan's Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, the regions of Bukhara, Namangan, Xorazm, and Jizzax, as well as from Tashkent, the capital.

"At this moment, justice was decided. The truth that had been kept veiled for years was celebrated. The holy names of the repressions' victims, who selflessly fought for independence and sacrificed their own lives, will live forever in the hearts of our people," the court statement said.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court exonerated 240 people convicted in the 1920s-1930s by the Soviet regime for taking part in the Basmachi (Raiders) movement, which fiercely fought against Russian and Soviet forces.

In August 2021, the court exonerated 115 people convicted in the 1920s-1930s by the Soviet regime.

The Supreme Court said at the time that those exonerated had been recognized as victims of Soviet repression by a special commission established in accordance with a 2020 order by President Shavkat Mirziyoev. The case materials revealed that the men were sentenced by troikas of the Soviet OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate), the predecessor of the Soviet KGB.

The Basmachi movement, which started during World War I in Central Asia, was eradicated by the Soviets by the late 1920s. However, clashes between Soviet forces and remaining Basmachi rebels along the border with Afghanistan continued until the early 1930s.

According to the Supreme Court, it has exonerated 1,031 individuals who were repressed during the Soviet era on the territory of what is now Uzbekistan.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on May 7 it detained members of a network of agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) that planned to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials. According to the SBU, two colonels from the administration of the State Guard of Ukraine (UDO), whose names were not disclosed, were charged with high treason committed during wartime and preparing a terrorist act. The two men were arrested after their homes were searched. If found guilty, they face life in prison. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

A court in the Siberian city of Omsk has sentenced psychologist Olga Belova to six years in prison in absentia on a charge of distributing "deliberately false" information about Russia's armed forces motivated by political hatred.

The press service of the Omsk region's courts said on May 7 that the decision was made by the Lenin district court.

Belova, who is the former head of the Alliance of Doctors independent union branch in Omsk, was fired from the city's cardiology center in April 2022 over her open criticism of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched in February of that year.

Belova was fined by a local court twice in 2022 on a charge of discrediting Russia's armed forces.

In December last year, Russian authorities added Belova to their wanted list. Her current location is unknown.

Separately on May 7, a court in Moscow issued an arrest warrant for blogger Dmitry Ivanov (aka Kamikadze Di) on a charge of distributing false information about the Russian military.

Ivanov left Russia in 2017. The probe against him was launched in 2022 after he condemned online Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine and criticized Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

In December 2022, Russian authorities added Ivanov to their wanted list.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, accusations of discrediting the Russian military or distributing false information about Russia's armed forces have been filed almost daily across the country.

The Investigative Committee has said that between March 2022 and January 2024, 273 cases were filed on "false information about Russia's military," while 81 cases were filed on "discrediting Russia's armed forces."

According to the OVD-Info rights group, 282 people have been charged with distributing false information about the armed forces and 177 were charged with discrediting the military during that period.

With reporting by Mediazona

Two Belarusian activists went on trial in Minsk on May 7 in separate cases amid a continuing crackdown on dissent. Natallya Kruk, who was arrested in early 2023 after she returned from Poland, is accused of calling for actions aimed at damaging state security and organizing activities that violate public order. Ruslan Badamshyn was charged with organizing activities that violate public order. The charges against the two activists are related to the unprecedented nationwide protests in 2020 against the official results of a presidential election that declared authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner, while activists and opposition politicians say the poll was rigged. To read the original stories by RFE/RL's Belarus Service, click here and here.

Norway and Moldova on May 7 signed a memorandum of understanding to tighten cooperation in the energy sector aimed at securing supply in the Eastern European country, which is trying to end its long-standing reliance on Russia. The agreement aims to "promote and enhance cooperation in the field of energy; including but not limited to, energy transition and energy security, as well as to encourage new investments in the energy sector." It was signed in Oslo by Norway's energy minister, Terje Aasland, and his Moldovan counterpart, Victor Parlicov, during a two-day state visit by Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

Vladimir Putin was sworn in as president of Russia for a fifth time on May 7, in a ceremony to kick off a new six-year term that was boycotted by most Western countries over his war in Ukraine and an election victory they rejected as being orchestrated to provide him a landslide result.

The 71-year-old Putin took the presidential oath of office in an ornate ceremony in Moscow's Grand Kremlin Palace attended by senior Russian politicians other dignitaries, though noticeably absent were representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and most European Union members.

Putin -- who has ruled as either president or prime minister since 2000 -- is set to surpass Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's nearly 30-year reign by the end of his new term to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than two centuries.

He was able to contest the March election, where he won over 87 percent of the vote, by taking advantage of a raft of 2020 constitutional reforms that gave him the right to seek two more six-year terms, meaning he could stay in office until 2036.

Russian elections are tightly controlled by the Kremlin and are neither free nor fair but are viewed by the government as necessary to convey a sense of legitimacy. They are marred by the exclusion of opposition candidates, voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, and other means of manipulation.

"We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said ahead of the inauguration.

The election was the first since Putin launched his war against neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, and two anti-war candidates were barred from running against him on technicalities.

Meanwhile, his greatest political foe, Aleksei Navalny, died while in a Siberian prison a month before Russians took to the polls.

"War, political assassinations, impoverishment of Russians. There is no prosperity for Russia, no peace and freedom for our citizens," Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a social media post on May 7.

"Our country is being led by a liar, a thief, and a murderer. But this will definitely come to an end."

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched, relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War, with Kyiv's Western allies throwing their support behind Ukraine's struggle to repel overwhelmingly superior Russian forces.

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Speaking after he took the oath of office, Putin said he wouldn't rule out dialogue with the West, but it needed to be on equal terms and in the meantime, Russia was open to developing relations with other countries he called "the world's majority."

"We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued," Lithuania's foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said in explaining his country's decision to boycott the ceremony.

"Participation in Putin's inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression."

A military court in the Russian city of Samara on May 7 sentenced anti-war activist Andrei Boyarshinov from the Tatarstan region to five years in prison on charges of justifying terrorism and calls for terrorism. The charges stem from online posts Boyarshinov made in 2022 supporting rallies in the city of Kazan to protest against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The court also banned Boyarshinov from administering websites for two years after his release. Boyarshinov was arrested more than two years ago. Last year, the Memorial human rights group recognized him as a political prisoner. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

Russian shelling killed one civilian and wounded eight in several Ukrainian regions, officials reported early on May 7. One man was killed in Petrivka in the Donetsk region, local administration head Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram, adding that four people were wounded in Kostyantynivka. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said three people -- including a 16-year-old girl -- were wounded when a guided aerial bomb struck the village of Borova in the Izyum district. Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported one wounded in his region while in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian troops shelled the city of Nikopol four times overnight, damaging a gas pipeline, according to regional head Serhiy Lysak. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

Jailed Russian dissident and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for commentaries for his articles that appeared in The Washington Post. Kara-Murza "won for passionate columns written at great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country," the Pulitzer Committee said in a statement on May 6. Kara-Murza is currently serving a 25-year sentence -- the longest jail term handed to a Kremlin opponent in post-Soviet Russia -- for discrediting the Russian military and treason over remarks he made in speeches outside Russia that criticized Kremlin policies.

The United States and European Union have said they will not be sending representatives to the swearing-in of Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 7 for a new six-year term. "We will not have a representative at his inauguration," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. An EU spokesperson said that "our ambassador will not be attending, most of the member states will not be attending." Britain and Canada also said they would not attend. Putin won a landslide reelection in March, weeks after his most prominent opponent, Aleksei Navalny, died under mysterious circumstances in a remote prison. Western leaders condemned the election as unfair and undemocratic.

A court in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok has ordered the arrest of U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black and sent him to pretrial detention until at least July 2, court spokeswoman Yelena Oleneva said on May 7.

Black was charged with "theft causing significant damage to a citizen," Kommersant reported, citing Oleneva. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison.

Western media had earlier reported that a U.S. soldier had been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing after traveling there from South Korea, where he was stationed, without informing his superiors, adding to a list of Americans being detained by Moscow amid deteriorating relations with Washington.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed in a statement on May 6 that the soldier, who was not identified, was detained four days earlier in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in Russia's Far East, on charges of criminal misconduct.

She said Russia notified the United States and the army told the soldier's family. She gave no further details in the statement due to "the sensitivity of this matter."

The U.S. Embassy is seeking consular access to him, CNN reported.

The soldier's detention adds to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and comes as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated.

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Also being held is Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the detained soldier was being considered as absent without leave (AWOL) by the U.S. military.

Details of the incident remain sketchy, with one report saying the soldier had been arrested in Vladivostok for allegedly stealing from a woman there.

"The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," Smith said in the statement.

"The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia."

Officials said the soldier had been stationed in South Korea -- where the U.S. military has about 28,500 troops based -- and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos, Texas, but traveled instead to Russia.

"I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage," Representative Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "do not travel" warning to U.S. citizens in the background of Washington's support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion of that country. The note cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials" in its warning.

Asked about the incident, a State Department spokesperson would only confirm that "a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia."

"We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our travel advisory for Russia," the spokesperson said.

The incident comes less than a year after U.S. soldier Travis King, also stationed in South Korea at the time, slipped into North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

North Korea later expelled King, who was returned to the United States and eventually charged with desertion.

With reporting by AP

France and the European Commission on May 6 told Chinese President Xi Jingping that they wanted him to use his influence on Russia to end its war in Ukraine, while underscoring that the EU wouldn't waver in its support for Kyiv. President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the Chinese leader in his first visit to Europe in five years and held talks with him and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris as they sought to show a united front on issues ranging from trade to Ukraine. China has strengthened trade and military ties with Russia in recent years. "We count on China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," von der Leyen told reporters. Macron said coordination with China on Ukraine was "absolutely decisive."

BELGRADE -- The Serbian capital has been adorned with Chinese flags and banners ahead of President Xi Jinping's May 7-8 visit to the country, as the Chinese leader seeks to gain economic and political influence during a rare European trip.

Xi, who is meeting with French leaders in Paris on May 6, is scheduled to hold talks with nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, who has kept close ties to Beijing and Moscow while also seeking to maintain relations with the West amid the country’s hopes of eventual EU membership.

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Xi is later scheduled to travel to Budapest to meet with right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also has kept close ties with Russia and China despite Hungary being an EU member.

A focus of Xi’s European trip will be on China's economic ties to Europe and escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels. But China's position on Russia's war in Ukraine will also take center stage.

China has sought to carve out a larger diplomatic role around the Ukraine war, although EU officials have expressed doubts about the role Beijing can play in any future peace process given its close ties to Russia.

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Serbia and Hungary have both pushed back on sanctions against Russia and have stood against weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The date chosen for Xi's visit to Serbia is symbolic, as it marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Chinese Embassy building during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

A large Chinese cultural center has been built at the former site of the embassy, and Xi is expected to visit a memorial there in honor of Chinese diplomats killed during the accidental strike.

Xi and Vucic are expected to discuss a wide range of topics, from political, economic, and technological issues to cooperation in the field of culture.

The Chinese president is coming to Belgrade six months after Vucic visited Beijing, during which Serbia and Chinese officials signed a free-trade agreement in the presence of the two leaders at the international "Belt and Road" forum.

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The free-trade agreement between Serbia and China is set to enter into force in July, although it has been under scrutiny in Brussels.

Ahead of Xi's visit, Vucic said Serbia will accelerate projects in several spheres, including "robotics, satellite technology, flying cars, among many other things."

Xi previously traveled to Serbia in June 2016, which marked the first visit of a Chinese president to Belgrade in 30 years.

Former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev, who is on trial for violently killing his 31-year-old wife in an Astana restaurant in November, says he had no intention of killing her.

In his final statement on May 6 at his high-profile trial in the Kazakh capital, which has been followed online by tens of millions in the Central Asian country and abroad since late March, Bishimbaev called on the jury to be "objective" in the face of what he called an ongoing campaign on social media that had been organized "to incite hatred toward me."

"I had never wished Saltanat's death. I had never expected such a result for her. I am guilty, but not of premeditated murder. I had all means to flee and escape the trial, but I did not do that. However, the investigation has been influenced by social networks and media.... Saltanat's death was unintentional," Bishimbaev said.

Bishimbaev is charged with torture, murder with extreme violence, and repeatedly committing serious crimes. Bishimbaev's cousin, Baqytzhan Baizhanov, is a co-defendant, charged with failure to report a crime in progress.

The case has attracted nationwide attention amid growing outrage over domestic violence in Kazakhstan, where one in six women say they have faced some form of physical violence at the hands of their male partner.

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Bishimbaev's last statement at the trial coincided with the statement by Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov, who said on May 6 that adviser Saken Mamash to the Kazakh ambassador in the United Arab Emirates will be dismissed, after his wife complained to an online feminist group that her husband had regularly beat her during 10 years of their marriage.

"We urgently called that employee back to Kazakhstan. Law enforcement organs will take care of his case further. He will be fired from the ministry," Smadiyarov said.

Domestic violence has historically gone unpunished in the Central Asian nation, where it is not considered a stand-alone criminal offense. The Kazakh parliament has been dragging its feet for years on a bill that would criminalize domestic violence. Women account for about one-quarter of Kazakh lawmakers.

Amid the public outcry over the brutal death of Nukenova, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev publicly called on the Interior Ministry to take the case under its "special control" during the investigation.

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The 43-year-old Bishimbaev served as economy minister from May 2016 to late December the same year. Before that, he occupied different managerial posts in government agencies.

In 2018, Bishimbaev and 22 others faced a high-profile corruption trial that ended with Bishimbaev’s conviction on charges of bribery and embezzlement while leading a state-controlled holding company.

A court in Astana sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but Bishimbaev, who comes from an influential family, was granted an early release through a mass amnesty issued by the government. He had served only 18 months of his term.

The Interior Ministry said earlier that more than 100,000 cases of domestic violence are officially registered each year, though the number of unregistered cases, analysts say, is likely much larger.

International rights watchdogs have urged Kazakh officials to curb the spreading of domestic violence for years.

According to the United Nations, about 400 women die in Kazakhstan as a result of domestic violence every year.

With reporting by Tengrinews

Russia says it warned Britain that if British weapons are used by Kyiv to strike inside its territory, Moscow was entitled to retaliate by striking back at British military targets both inside and outside Ukraine. The Russian ministry said it summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey on May 6 over what it called "hostile" remarks by Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who said Ukraine "has the right" to launch attacks inside Russia with British-made weapons. "Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could be any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond," the Russian ministry said.

Iran's cyberpolice are launching a plan to combat "moral and social crimes that violate Islamic, social, and cultural norms in cyberspace," in another sign of the curbing of freedoms by authorities following a renewed crackdown on the wearing of head scarves and the blocking of several social media sites.

According to the semiofficial ISNA news agency, cyberpolice chief Vahid Majid outlined the new measures targeting online activities, including "obscene live streaming, vulgar content production, and modeling."

"In a proactive strategy, we have identified and taken legal and operational actions against the operators, managers, and members of 10 active cybersites," Majid added.

The cyberpolice recently blocked several popular social media pages -- including Instagram, as well as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Telegram, and WhatsApp -- while the judiciary has pursued cases involving social media commentary, summoning individuals and pressing charges for various offenses.

At the same time, the Islamic republic's authorities have resumed the deployment of the morality police on Iran's streets, aggressively targeting citizens, particularly women, in an effort to enforce strict dress codes.

This has led to the documentation by activists and victims of what they say are several incidents of violence against women challenging the compulsory hijab.

It has also led to widespread usage of the Internet by social network users and civil activists to complain about the situation.

A recent survey by ISPA, the Student Opinion Polling Center of Iran, revealed that a significant portion of the population continues to access the blocked platforms, with 46.5 percent using Instagram, 35.3 percent on WhatsApp, and 34.6 percent on Telegram as of February 2024.

The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, triggering protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities.

Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.

A court in Bishkek announced on May 6 that an internal investigation had been launched into the escape of a Kyrgyz man to Russia after he was handed a suspended seven-year prison term for joining Russia's armed forces and fighting in Ukraine. Askar Kubanychbek-uulu fled Kyrgyzstan for Russia last month. Russia's Interior Ministry said at the time that Kubanychbek-uulu was expected to obtain Russian citizenship. According to a ruling in January by the Birinchi Mai district court, Kubanychbek-uulu was banned from leaving the Kyrgyz capital while serving a three-year probation period that was part of his seven-year suspended sentence. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Russian media reported on May 6 that Moscow police searched the home of noted journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova as part of a case on justifying terrorism. An acquaintance of Kevorkova confirmed the reports to RFE/RL. Kevorkova is known for focusing on conflicts in the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Muslims' rights in Russia and abroad. There has been no official statement about the investigations launched against her. Kevorkova's former husband, Maksim Shevchenko, is a well-known political observer and politician. Her son, Vasily Polonsky, is an anchor at the popular NO.Media from Russia YouTube channel. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Germany has recalled its envoy to Moscow over accusations that Russian military spies hacked e-mails of top members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party and other sensitive government and industrial targets. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on May 6 that Alexander Graf Lambsdorff was returning to Berlin for a week of consultations. Lambsdorf will not be in Russia during the inauguration of President Vladimir Putin to a new term in office scheduled for May 7, the spokesman said. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on May 3 that Russian military hackers were behind the hacking operation, which lasted for months. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A Bishkek court on May 6 rejected the appeal of Adakhan Madumarov, the leader of the United Kyrgyzstan opposition party, against his fraud conviction, saying it had been filed too late. In late March, a Bishkek court found him guilty of financial fraud and of ignoring Kyrgyzstan's interests while signing a Kyrgyz-Tajik border deal in 2009 when he led the country's Security Council. The court did not sentence Madumarov due to the statute of limitations but ordered him to remain in custody until the decision took force on April 26. Madumarov has called the accusations “ungrounded.” To read the original story on RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, on May 6 approved in the second and third readings a bill that would ban individuals added to the controversial "foreign agents'" list from taking part in federal, regional, and local elections. The bill was proposed by a group of lawmakers after several opposition politicians who were labeled "foreign agents" announced their plans to register for municipal elections in Moscow scheduled for September. Russia has used its so-called "foreign agent" laws for the past decade to label and punish critics of government policies. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on May 6, where he is expected to speak at a conference and meet officials for talks on Tehran's nuclear program. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tensions and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criticizing Iran for lack of cooperation on inspections and other outstanding issues. Grossi is scheduled to meet Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as well as the Islamic republic's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami.

Tajikistan's Emergencies Committee said on May 6 that mudslides and floods caused by heavy rains killed three women over the weekend. The mudslides were registered in the Central Asian nation’s regions of Sughd, Khatlon, and the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region, as well as in several districts surrounding Dushanbe, the capital. In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, mudslides caused by heavy rains hit southern regions of Batken and Jalal-Abad on May 5, damaging local infrastructure and buildings in several districts. No casualties were reported there. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Tajik Service, click here.

A court in the central Iranian city of Isfahan has sentenced Mahmud Mehrabi to death for posting messages on social media critical of the Islamic republic.

There is scant reporting about the details of his critical posts, which led to him being convicted of “corruption on Earth” -- the most serious offense under Iran’s Islamic penal code.

Mehrabi’s lawyer, Babak Farsani, wrote on social media on May 5 that there were “serious problems” with the verdict that he hoped would help get it overturned by the Supreme Court.

Mehrabi was arrested in February 2023 and has spent the last six months in a prison ward where dangerous criminals are held, according to his sister Hajar Mehrabi, who lives in Austria.

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She told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on May 5 that her brother was among the tens of thousands of people who protested during the Women, Life, Freedom unrest in 2022. The protests were sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly not properly observing Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Mehrabi put out calls for protests on his social media account and was accused of “spreading false news,” his sister said.

“The judge told him, ‘I don’t see regret in your eyes, so I have sentenced you to death’,” she added.

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The “corruption on Earth” charge is usually brought against serious crimes, such as murder, drug dealing, and high-profile financial corruption cases. It remains unclear exactly what Mehrabi posted online to be hit with a charge that carries the death penalty.

Maryam Mehrabi, another sister who resides in Iran, has urged the public to gather outside the home of Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Nasseri on May 6 to protest the verdict. Nasseri is a prominent cleric in Isfahan who teaches in the city’s seminary.

She vowed to set herself on fire outside Nasseri’s residence.

This comes just over a week after another court in Isfahan sentenced popular rapper Toomaj Salehi to death for his antiestablishment songs.

Rights groups have sharply criticized Iranian authorities for their extensive use of the death penalty.

"The Iranian authorities are ruthlessly carrying out an execution spree. Prisons across the country have become sites of mass state-sanctioned killings under the guise of judicial executions," Amnesty International said recently.

Written by Kian Sharifi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda

Kazakhstan-based billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze has bought England's Wycombe Wanderers soccer club. Lomtadze's Blue Ocean Partners Ltd. paid an undisclosed amount for a 90 percent stake in the club, which plays in England's League One, the third level of the English football league system, the BBC reported on May 5. The 48-year old Georgia-born Lomtadze is the chief executive of Kaspi.kz, the biggest fintech and payments group in Kazakhstan. In its 2024 list of billionaires, Forbes listed Lomtadze 581st, with an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.