Iran has sentenced a dissident author to death for “espionage” after he gave an interview earlier this year to an Israeli TV channel, opposition-affiliated media reported Thursday.
Iran International said Mehdi Bahman was arrested in October after speaking with Channel 13.
The report says a Revolutionary Court handed down the sentence. In recent days, at least 11 people have been sentenced to death for their role in the protests and more than 100 face the death penalty, according to opposition groups.
While Bahman was arrested after the protests broke out, his interview with Channel 13 was donated in April 2022 after approaching an Israeli to have one of her books translated into Hebrew.
In the interview, Bahman criticized the regime in Tehran and the imposition of Islamic law and called for normalization between Israel and Iran.
He told Channel 13 that he was not afraid of being arrested for speaking to an Israeli channel.
Iran International said Bahman was an author and illustrator who worked for religious coexistence. In recent years, he had worked with dissident Shia cleric Masoumi Tehrani to create artwork containing symbols of various religions and gave them as gifts to Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, Sunni, Mandean Sabian and Baha minority leaders. ‘ie in Iran. .
An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced dissident illustrator and author Mehdi Bahman to death on charges of “espionage”. Known for his efforts in favor of religious coexistence, Bahman was arrested on October 12 after giving an interview to an Israeli television channel. pic.twitter.com/hUk1Q4MHUl
– Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2022
The report states that Tehrani was also arrested shortly after Bahman. There was no word on his fate.
Several other opposition-affiliated media also reported the arrest. But there has been no official confirmation of the conviction from Iranian officials or state media.
Iran accuses Iran International, a Persian-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, of stoking recent nationwide protests that escalated into deadly violence.
Iran International, for its part, describes itself as an “independent news organization providing uncensored, accurate and unbiased information to Farsi-speaking audiences inside and outside Iran.” He says he has “no affiliation or association” with any political group or organization.
Iranian writer and artist Mehdi Bahman has been sentenced to death, sources say @EhsanAbedi. Bahman was reportedly accused of spying during an interview with Israel’s Channel 13. Bahman, who was arrested in October, was promoting religious coexistence. #execution_nkened https://t.co/Bo63sPiY0g
– Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) December 29, 2022
Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death in custody of Iranian-Kurdish Mahsa Amini, 22, after his arrest in Tehran for an alleged violation of the country’s strict dress code for women.
Iran has sought to quell the protests and deter them by imposing harsh penalties, including the death penalty, with public executions.
At least 100 Iranians arrested in more than 100 days of nationwide protests face charges carrying the death penalty, the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said earlier this week.
In a report released on Tuesday, IHR identified 100 inmates facing the death penalty, including at least 11 already on death row.
Five detainees on the IHR list are women.
The report says many of them have limited access to legal representation.
“By issuing death sentences and executing some of them, they (the authorities) want to bring people home,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“It’s having some effect,” he told AFP, but “what we’ve seen in general is more anger at the authorities.”
“Their strategy of instilling fear through executions has failed.”
A photo obtained from Iran’s Mizan News Agency on December 12, 2022, showing the public execution of Majidreza Rahnavard, in the Iranian city of Mashhad. (Mizan News/AFP)
In an updated tally released on Tuesday, IHR said 476 protesters had been killed so far.
In early December, Iran’s top security body reported more than 200 people killed, including security agents.
At least 14,000 people have been arrested since the nationwide unrest began, the United Nations announced last month.
Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was hanged in public from a crane on December 12 after being convicted by a court in Mashhad of killing two members of the security forces with a knife.
Four days earlier, Mohsen Shekari, also 23, had been executed for wounding a member of the security forces.
The judiciary said nine other people had handed down death sentences over the protests, two of whom were allowed to stand trial.
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