Iran has halted the execution of three youths linked to the deadly protests in November last year sparked by rising gasoline prices.
“We transmit a request [for a retrial] to the Supreme Court and they have accepted it. We hope that the verdict will be reversed, “Babak Paknia, lawyer of One of the accused told the AFP news agency on Sunday.
Iran’s judiciary said last week that a court upheld the death sentence for all three.
He said evidence had been found on the phones of the three – Amirhossein Moradi, 26, a mobile phone retailer, Said Tamjidi, a 28-year-old student, and Mohammad Rajabi, also 26 – setting fire to banks, buses and public buildings in November.
“We are very hopeful that the verdicts will be reversed … given that one of the Supreme Court justices had opposed the verdicts before,” the four attorneys representing the defendant said in a statement released by the state agency. of IRNA news.
Numerous calls have been spread online since the verdict was announced using the #DontExecute hashtag to stop executions in the country.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said at the time that the verdict could still change on “extraordinary procedures”, pointing to a legal clause that could trigger a new trial if the chief justice deems it necessary.
Demonstrations erupted on November 15 after authorities more than doubled fuel prices overnight, exacerbating economic difficulties in the country affected by the sanctions.
They shook up a handful of cities before spreading to at least 100 urban centers throughout the Islamic Republic.
Gasoline bombs were set on fire, police stations attacked, and stores were looted before security forces intervened amid a near-complete internet blackout.
A senior Iranian lawmaker said in June that 230 people died and thousands were injured during the protests.
For months, authorities refused to provide casualty figures, dismissing tolls given by foreign media and human rights groups as “lies.”
London-based rights group Amnesty International estimated the number of deaths at 304, and a group of independent UN rights experts said in December that 400 people, including at least 12 children, could have been killed, according to reports no confirmed.
The United States has claimed that more than 1,000 were killed in the violence.
.
