Iranian Political Prisoner Faces Risk Of Execution In Mashhad
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, an Iranian political prisoner held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, is at risk of imminent execution.
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, an Iranian political prisoner held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, is at risk of imminent execution.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced the news saying that Vafaei Sani was sentenced to death earlier by Branch Two of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, following a retrial.
Babak Paknia, Vafaei Sani's lawyer, revealed that his client initially received the death sentence from the Mashhad Revolutionary Court in January 2022. The charges against him include "corruption on earth through intentional arson and destruction of specific places, including government buildings."
However, following the verdict, the supreme court overturned the decision, returning the case for further review, but his death penalty was upheld.
Vafaei Sani, a 28-year-old boxing coach, was apprehended by security forces in March 2020 during protests triggered by a government decision to hike gasoline prices and demonstrations related to the January 2020 downing of a Ukrainian airliner by Iranian forces.
Before the court's ruling, a substantial bail amount was set for Vafaei Sani's release, set so prohibitively high that it was impossible to meet.
Iran has seen a surge in executions, with the Islamic Republic executing 90 Iranians between December 22 and January 21. UN experts reported that in 2023, Iran executed at least 834 people, eight of whom were linked to nationwide protests. The experts have urgently called on the Iranian government to halt the rising trend of executions and conduct a comprehensive evaluation of death penalty practices.
“Key to Israel’s—and the region’s—security is dealing with Iran,” wrote William J. Burns in an article called Spycraft and Statecraft in Foreign Affairs.
The US spy chief said the Hamas atrocities of October 7, which has sparked Iran’s proxies across the region to ignite, has only empowered Iran, worsened by a weak US leadership.
“The Iranian regime has been emboldened by the [Gaza] crisis and seems ready to fight to its last regional proxy, all while expanding its nuclear program and enabling Russian aggression,” the spy chief wrote.
“In the months after October 7, the Houthis, the Yemeni rebel group allied with Iran, began attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea, and the risks of escalation on other fronts persist,” he said.
However, with more than 160 attacks by the proxies on US facilities and personnel since the Gaza war broke out, and just a handful of military responses from Washington, there has been little deterrence, he admitted.
“The United States is not exclusively responsible for resolving any of the Middle East’s vexing problems. But none of them can be managed, let alone solved, without active US leadership.”
He said the ensuing “crisis precipitated by Hamas’s butchery … is a painful reminder of the complexity of the choices that the Middle East continues to pose for the United States”.
While competition with China will remain Washington’s highest priority, the Middle East has now reared its head, at a time when Biden has done his utmost to avoid conflict and attempted to pull away from the region.
The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021 was a disaster leaving a more emboldened Taliban in charge, and the refusal to deal more strongly with Iran has seen hostages exchanged for billions of dollars yet the regime continues to bolster its nuclear program in spite of global sanctions.
“I have spent much of the last four decades working in and on the Middle East, and I have rarely seen it more tangled or explosive,” he warned. “Winding down the intense Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, meeting the deep humanitarian needs of suffering Palestinian civilians, freeing hostages, preventing the spread of conflict to other fronts in the region, and shaping a workable approach for the “day after” in Gaza are all incredibly difficult problems.”
Beyond the Middle East, Iran continues to inflame the fans of conflict elsewhere, including its assistance to Russia in its unending war on Ukraine. “This year is likely to be a tough one on the battlefield in Ukraine, a test of staying power whose consequences will go well beyond the country’s heroic struggle to sustain its freedom and independence,” he warned, the war now entering its third year.
Iran has become a key ally, supplying the likes of drones used on civilian populations as the two sanctioned nations grow ever closer. “As Putin regenerates Russia’s defense production—with critical components from China, as well as weaponry and munitions from Iran and North Korea—he continues to bet that time is on his side, that he can grind down Ukraine and wear down its Western supporters,” added Burns.
