The Comité Français pour un Iran Démocratique (CFID) has issued an urgent appeal to the international community, calling for immediate action to save two Iranian political prisoners, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, from imminent execution. Both men, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), have been sentenced to death by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court under Judge Iman Afshari on charges including “rebellion, war against God, corruption on earth, membership in the PMOI, gathering classified information, and conspiracy against national security.”
Ehsani, 69, was arrested on December 6, 2022, in Tehran and subjected to torture at the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention center in Evin Prison (Ward 209). He is currently being held in Ward 4 of Evin Prison. Hassani, 48, was arrested on September 11, 2022, in Zanjan and was also tortured in Evin’s Ward 209. He is now detained in Ward 8.
The CFID urges the European Union, particularly the French government, the United Nations, and human rights defenders worldwide to take urgent steps to prevent the executions of Ehsani, Hassani, and other political prisoners in Iran. The committee also calls for an international fact-finding mission to visit Iranian prisons and meet with political prisoners to investigate the ongoing human rights abuses.
As the Iranian regime faces increasing internal dissent, especially on the anniversary of the 2022 uprisings, the CFID warns that Tehran is using executions to prevent further popular unrest. The CFID stressed that international inaction would only embolden the Iranian regime to intensify its repression, using the distraction of regional conflicts to mask its internal human rights violations.
The CFID full statement follows:
