On the night of January 8, a colonel in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in the central city of Isfahan as mass anti-government protests raged across the country.
Months later, 16 people have been charged with moharebeh, or “enmity against God,” and could be hanged over the death of Colonel Abbas Kamrani and the violent demonstrations that night in Isfahan.
The case comes as Iran has witnessed a surge in executions of what human rights groups consider political prisoners -- from demonstrators to alleged members of banned groups and those convicted of spying -- since the start of the war with the United States and Israel on February 28.
Activists say the rise in executions is an attempt by the authorities to create fear among Iranians and prevent a repeat of the nationwide demonstrations that rattled the country’s clerical rulers earlier this year.
Rights organizations have condemned the trials of those executed, saying many of them were marked by torture, forced confessions, and the absence of due process.
The January protests posed the most serious threat to the authorities since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Thousands of people were killed in an unprecedented state crackdown. Dozens have been executed for their alleged involvement in the demonstrations, and scores more are awaiting execution, according to rights groups.
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Iranian Sisters, 20, Tried In High-Profile Case Tied To January Protests
Shahada Square Case
One of the most closely watched cases related to the nationwide protests is the trial of 16 defendants in Isfahan.
Charged with moharebeh, aiding and abetting moharebeh, destruction of public property amounting to moharebeh, assembly and collusion, and propaganda against the Islamic republic, they are awaiting their verdict.
Sources in Iran told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the authorities used torture to extract confessions from the defendants, and there are concerns that they might face the death penalty.
Although prosecutors allege the defendants were responsible for the deaths of Kamrani and another man described as homeless, they have not been charged with murder. Instead, they face charges of moharebeh for allegedly making Molotov cocktails in a shoe store near Shahada Square in Isfahan.
The case is also being heard by a revolutionary, not criminal, court. Revolutionary courts mainly deal with prominent political cases and are seen to be less regulated and more hard-line in their judgments than ordinary courts.
The accused include Milad Boueiri, the 29-year-old owner of the shoe store. The others are employees of the shoe store or nearby retail shops and their relatives. Many of the defendants are under the age of 23, including 20-year-old twins Taraneh and Romina Rahimi.
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According to Radio Farda's sources, prosecutors presented no independent evidence linking the defendants to the deaths. Instead, the prosecution relied primarily on the defendants’ confessions.
During court hearings, the defendants testified that their confessions were extracted through torture, including severe beatings, electric shocks, and the threat of rape.
“In light of the absence of any specific murder charges in the indictment, and the available information indicating that no evidence was presented linking the defendants to the deaths of these two individuals, attributing legal responsibility for those deaths to the defendants would be without legal basis,” US-based rights group HRANA said in a July 21 statement.
Held in solitary confinement in the Dastgerd and Dovlatabad prisons in Isfahan, the 16 defendants have legal representation, but their lawyers were denied access to case files. Sources told Radio Farda that two of the defense lawyers made statements against their own clients during the trial.
“The Isfahan Shahada Square case is a clear example of the instrumentalization of the judiciary to suppress civil protests and instill fear in society,” Iran Human Rights Monitor, a foreign-based group that documents human rights abuses, said in a statement on July 23.
“Holding in-camera trials within prison facilities, denying defense attorneys access to case documentation, ignoring brutal torture (including the use of tasers) to extract confessions, and bringing severe charges such as ‘moharebeh’ without supporting evidence demonstrate a flagrant violation” of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding the right to a fair trial, it added.
The case is being overseen by judges Morteza Barati and Mohammad Reza Tavakoli, who is notorious for harsh sentencing and caused a global uproar with a 2024 death sentence against a popular rap artist.
Tavakoli recently sentenced 12 men to death for their alleged role in killing special forces officers during protests in Isfahan on January 8.
Barati presided over a case connected to nationwide protests that rocked Iran in 2022. He sentenced the three defendants in that case to death, and all were subsequently executed.