TEHRAN: Iran has indicted 11 people over the murder of a Basij paramilitary force member during a ceremony last week in honour of a slain protester, a judiciary official said Saturday.
The incident happened on November 3 in Karaj, capital of Alborz province, when mourners were paying tribute to Hadis Najafi at the cemetery to mark 40 days after she was killed in the city.
Her death on September 21 came five days into nationwide protests that erupted after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran's hijab dress rules for women.
Eleven people, including a woman, had been summoned and charged over the killing of Basij member Ruhollah Ajamian, said Alborz province's judiciary chief Hossein Fazeli Harikandi.
The indictments followed an investigation launched after images posted on social media networks showed "a group of rioters assaulting and killing" Ajamian, the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted him as saying.
"Rioters attacked this security officer, who was unarmed, stripped him naked, stabbed him with knives, beat him with brass knuckles, stones, and kicks, and then dragged his naked and half-dead body on the asphalt street and between cars in a horrific manner," Harikandi added.
Some face charges of "corruption on earth", one of the most serious offenses under Iranian law which is punishable by death.
They are also accused of serious disturbance of public order leading to murder, gathering with the intention to commit crimes against the country's security, and propaganda against the state.
Amini, 22, died on September 16 in the custody of the morality police three days after falling into a coma, sparking street violence across the Islamic republic.
Dozens of people, mainly demonstrators but also security personnel, have been killed during the demonstrations, which the authorities have dubbed "riots", and hundreds more have been arrested.
The Basij is a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Iran charges 11 over killing of Basij paramilitary member
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Iran charges 11 over killing of Basij paramilitary member
French court rejects bid to reopen probe into black man’s death in custody
PARIS: France’s top court on Wednesday ruled against reopening an investigation into the 2016 death of a young black man in police custody, confirming a previous decision to dismiss the case against three arresting officers.
The Court of Cassation’s decision definitively closes the case nearly a decade after the death of 24-year-old Adama Traore following his arrest in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, a fatality that triggered national outcry over police brutality and racism.
Traore’s family was contesting a 2024 appeal court ruling confirming a prior decision to drop the case, after an investigation led to no charges against the military policemen — or gendarmes — involved and therefore no case in court.
A lawyer representing his family announced after Wednesday’s ruling they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to “have France convicted.”
Three gendarmes pursued the young man on July 19, 2016, when temperatures reached nearly 37C, pinning him down in an apartment, after which he told officers he was “having trouble breathing.”
He then fainted during the journey to a gendarmerie station, where he died.
’Probably’ not fatal
In 2023, French investigating magistrates dropped the case against the three gendarmes, in a ruling that was upheld on appeal in 2024.
They had been tasked with probing whether the three arresting officers used disproportionate force against Traore during a police operation targeting his brother, Bagui.
According to the magistrates, Traore’s death was caused by heatstroke that “probably” would not have been fatal without the officers’ intervention — though it concluded their actions were within legal bounds.
His family however has accused the gendarmes of failing to help the young man, who was found by rescue services unconscious and handcuffed behind his back.
In their appeal, Traore’s family criticized the justice system for not carrying out a reconstitution of events as part of the investigation.
But prosecutors requested that the appeal be dismissed.
Internal investigations
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France as most are dealt with internally.
In January, several thousand people protested in Paris over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, El Hacen Diarra, 35, who died after passing out at a police station following his violent arrest.
Paris police launched an internal investigation after video filmed by neighbors, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017.
Prosecutors have also called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
Europe’s top rights court in June condemned France over its police discriminating against a young man during identity checks, in the first such ruling against the country over alleged racial profiling.
The Court of Cassation’s decision definitively closes the case nearly a decade after the death of 24-year-old Adama Traore following his arrest in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, a fatality that triggered national outcry over police brutality and racism.
Traore’s family was contesting a 2024 appeal court ruling confirming a prior decision to drop the case, after an investigation led to no charges against the military policemen — or gendarmes — involved and therefore no case in court.
A lawyer representing his family announced after Wednesday’s ruling they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to “have France convicted.”
Three gendarmes pursued the young man on July 19, 2016, when temperatures reached nearly 37C, pinning him down in an apartment, after which he told officers he was “having trouble breathing.”
He then fainted during the journey to a gendarmerie station, where he died.
’Probably’ not fatal
In 2023, French investigating magistrates dropped the case against the three gendarmes, in a ruling that was upheld on appeal in 2024.
They had been tasked with probing whether the three arresting officers used disproportionate force against Traore during a police operation targeting his brother, Bagui.
According to the magistrates, Traore’s death was caused by heatstroke that “probably” would not have been fatal without the officers’ intervention — though it concluded their actions were within legal bounds.
His family however has accused the gendarmes of failing to help the young man, who was found by rescue services unconscious and handcuffed behind his back.
In their appeal, Traore’s family criticized the justice system for not carrying out a reconstitution of events as part of the investigation.
But prosecutors requested that the appeal be dismissed.
Internal investigations
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France as most are dealt with internally.
In January, several thousand people protested in Paris over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, El Hacen Diarra, 35, who died after passing out at a police station following his violent arrest.
Paris police launched an internal investigation after video filmed by neighbors, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017.
Prosecutors have also called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
Europe’s top rights court in June condemned France over its police discriminating against a young man during identity checks, in the first such ruling against the country over alleged racial profiling.
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