Amir Hossein Moradi, a physics student, and Ali Younesi, a computer engineering student at the Sharif University of Technology, were arrested in Iran on April 10, 2020, by the regime’s plainclothes officers without any warrant, while being severely beaten.
Shortly after this event by the follow-up of Ali Younesi’s family, it became clear that he and another student from his university Amir Hossein Moradi had been arrested by Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) intelligence agents, and the case was sent to Branch 6 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office to an investigator naming Jafari.
Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi have been charged with ‘corruption on earth.’
Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday that Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, two elite Iranian students, were in danger of being sentenced to a very unfair trial and that the charges against them would carry the death penalty.
Amnesty International said the two Iranian students have been in ward 209 of Evin Prison arbitrarily and without trial. Amnesty International called the charges against them fake and said the charges were punishable by death. Amnesty International added that Ministry of Intelligence agents held the two students in solitary confinement for a long time and beat them to obtain forced confessions.
“The authorities violated their right to be presumed innocent by publicly accusing them of ties to ‘counterrevolutionary’ groups apparently based on their families’ real or perceived association with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an opposition group based outside of Iran.” (Amnesty International, November 22, 2021)
In the Iranian regime, targeting members of the families of opposition groups by false accusations has a long history. After about two months, the slightest evidence has not been presented against Younesi and Moradi and given the background of forced confessions in the regime’s judiciary and the defendants’ lack of access to a lawyer, the fair trial of these two students is unlikely to be observed.
According to Article 48 of the Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure, access to a lawyer for persons accused of security crimes is limited to a list of lawyers approved by the judiciary. International law, however, guarantees access to a lawyer at all stages of criminal proceedings, including during interrogation, prosecution, and during the trial of any person accused of a crime.
“The two students have been denied access to a lawyer of their own choosing for the last 13 months since their arrest. They remain held in separate parts of Section 209 without trial, where, according to a relative, they are denied adequate healthcare and fresh air and sleep on the floor. Ali Younesi has never been examined by an eye doctor.” (Amnesty International, November 22, 2021)
Finally, Amnesty International’s urgent action appeal urged people to write to the regime, stating: “I call on you to release immediately and unconditionally Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi detained solely based on their families’ real or perceived ties to opposition groups. Pending this, I ask you to ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, provided urgently with the medical care they require, and given access to their families and a lawyer of their choosing. I also urge you to open an independent investigation into allegations that the two were beaten upon arrest and held in conditions violating the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment with a view of bringing those responsible to justice in proceedings meeting international standards of fair trial.” (Amnesty International, November 22, 2021)
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