The United Nations has called on the clerical regime in Iran to immediately halt the executions of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, whose death sentences were upheld by the country’s Supreme Court following trials reportedly marred by torture and forced confessions.
Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, issued a statement on social media platform X, urging the Iranian authorities to halt the executions. “I call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to stop the execution of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani. Their death sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court after trials that were reportedly tainted by torture and coerced confessions,” Sato wrote.
The UN Special Procedures, a group of independent experts, echoed this call, emphasizing that executing individuals for broadly defined national security offenses without fair trial guarantees is a violation of international human rights law. The group, including Margaret Satterthwaite, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, confirmed they are in contact with Iranian authorities regarding the matter.
من از جمهوری اسلامی ایران میخواهم که اجرای حکم اعدام بهروز احسانی و مهدی حسنی را متوقف کند. احکام اعدام آنها پس از محاکماتی که گفته میشود با شکنجه و اعترافات اجباری همراه بوده، توسط دیوان عالی کشور تأیید شده است. https://t.co/pjGQ0h9kOz
— Mai Sato (@drmaisato) February 25, 2025
Ehsani, 70, and Hassani, 48, face imminent execution after the regime’s Supreme Court rejected their retrial request on February 23, 2025. The two were sentenced to death on September 16, 2024, by Judge Iman Afshari 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.” Their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court on January 7, 2025.
Ehsani, a former political prisoner from the 1980s, was arrested in Tehran on December 5, 2024, and detained in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where he was allegedly tortured. In a statement following his sentencing, he declared, “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.”
Hassani, a father of three, was arrested on September 11, 2022, in Zanjan and transferred to Evin Prison’s Ward 209, where he was also subjected to severe torture, according to reports.
🚨 Urgent — #Iran https://t.co/qU0I3WGU2B
— Margaret Satterthwaite (@SRjudgeslawyers) February 25, 2025
Amnesty International has strongly condemned their death sentences, issuing statements on January 16 and January 23, 2025, describing them as grossly unjust and urging their immediate revocation. Human rights organizations have also called on 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 Ehsani, Hassani, and other political prisoners facing capital punishment.
The international community continues to pressure Iran to halt the executions. As the situation develops, human rights advocates stress the urgency of intervention to prevent what they call another grave injustice in the Iranian regime’s judicial system.