(Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Court has accepted the death sentence appeal of one protestor but confirmed that of another, the country’s judiciary said on Saturday.
The Court had initially said it had accepted the appeals of both protestors, but in a subsequent statement the judiciary’s Mizan news agency said: “The public relations of the Supreme Court of Iran has corrected its news: ‘The appeal of Mohammad Qabadloo has not been accepted/the ruling has been confirmed.
“Saman Seydi’s appeal has been accepted by the Supreme Court.”
Nationwide unrest erupted in mid-September after the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code laws.
Iran hanged two protesters earlier this month: Mohsen Shekari, 23, was accused of blocking a main road in September and wounding a member of the paramilitary Basij force with a knife. Majid Reza Rahnavard, 23, who was accused of stabbing to death two Basij members, was publicly hanged from a construction crane.
Amnesty International has said Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 26 people in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran”.
Qobadloo was charged with killing a police agent and injuring five others during the protests.
Yasin, a Kurd who raps about inequality, oppression and unemployment, was accused of attempting to kill security forces and singing revolutionary songs.
Rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 506 protesters had been killed, including 69 minors. It said 66 members of the security forces had also been killed. As many as 18,516 protesters are believed to have been arrested, it said.
A top state security body said early this month that 200 people, including members of security forces, had lost their lives in the unrest.
(This story has been officially corrected in the first, second and third paragraphs to show the appeal of only one protestor had been accepted, following a statement from Iran’s Supreme Court correcting its initial announcement that two appeals had been accepted. Also updates Amnesty International figure in the sixth paragraph to 26 from 21.)
