Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani at Imminent Risk of Execution Following Supreme Court Rejection of Retrial Request
Urgent Call for Action by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Council, and Special Rapporteur
On Sunday, February 23, 2025, the Supreme Court of the Iranian regime rejected the retrial request for death sentences issued against Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, placing them at imminent risk of execution.
Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were sentenced to death on September 16, 2024, by Iman Afshari, the notorious head of Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. They were convicted on charges of “rebellion (baghi), waging war against God (moharebeh), corruption on earth (efsad-e fel arz), membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), gathering classified information, conspiracy against national security, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.” The regime’s Supreme Court upheld these sentences on January 7, 2025.
Behrouz Ehsani, 70, a former political prisoner from the 1980s, was arrested in Tehran on December 5, 2022, and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he was subjected to torture. Following his death sentence, he sent a message to the people of Iran, stating: “This execution-driven regime knows nothing else. I will not bargain over my life. I am prepared to give my humble life for the freedom of the Iranian people.”
Mehdi Hassani, 48, a father of three, was arrested on September 11, 2022, in Zanjan and taken to Evin Prison’s Ward 209, where he was subjected to severe torture.
Amnesty International has strongly condemned the death sentences against Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani in statements issued on January 16 and January 23, calling them grossly unjust and demanding their immediate revocation.
The Iranian Resistance once again urges the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran to take urgent action to stop the executions of Behrouz Ehsani, Mehdi Hassani, and other political prisoners on death row.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
24 February 2025