Iran Supreme Court accepts appeal of one protester’s death sentence

Nationwide unrest erupted in mid-September after the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. (WANA via Reuters)
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Updated 24 December 2022
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Iran Supreme Court accepts appeal of one protester’s death sentence

  • Iranian authorities seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in so-called ‘sham trials’

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 21 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.


Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

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Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

JERUSALEM: Prosecutors on Thursday filed charges against the brother of the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency over the alleged smuggling of cigarettes into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, is charged along with other defendants in the case with “assisting the enemy in wartime, performing transactions in property for terrorist purposes, obtaining something by fraud under aggravated circumstances, and taking bribes,” the justice ministry said.
“A central category of prohibited goods smuggled into the Strip was tobacco and cigarettes, which have put a total of hundreds of millions of shekels into Hamas’s coffers since the start of the war,” the ministry added in a statement.
Israel controls the entry of all goods and people into the Palestinian territory, where humanitarian conditions remain dire despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which came into effect on October 10.
The justice ministry described the smuggling operation as a “serious case of organized, systematic, and sophisticated smuggling of various goods into the Gaza Strip for profit,” which began in the summer of 2025, when war was still raging in Gaza.