Ekbatan case

The “Ekbatan case,” involving eight young protesters, remains in limbo nearly two years after their arrest and nine months after their appeal was filed. Six of them face execution.

During Iran’s nationwide uprising, Milad Armon, Navid Najaran, Mohammad-Mehdi Hosseini, Mehdi Imani, Alireza Kafaee, Hossein Nemati, Amir-Mohammad Khosheghbal, and Alireza Barmez Pournak were arrested on charges including moharebeh (“waging war against God”), “participation in murder,” “propaganda against the state,” and “disrupting public order.”

Reports say the presiding judge opposed the “premeditated murder” charge, and even the appeals judges agreed, yet the majority still voted for the death penalty.

Families state:

“Not only has our appeal gone nowhere, but we’re afraid to even follow up. We fear the original verdict will be upheld if we push too hard.”

Hossein Nemati’s lawyer, Payam Derafshan, said that when he and some families visited the relevant branch, they were told outright that neither lawyers nor families would be allowed in.

By law, the criminal court must review detention orders every two months, but the lawyers have been told that since the case is now with the Supreme Court, nothing can be done.

The defendants have been in pretrial detention for two years, with no institution accepting responsibility. Branch 9 has only stated it “will decide by the end of this month,” about 20 days from now.