This is the emotional appeal from a mother for her son’s life after the authorities in Iran arrested him and sentenced him to death.
Her appeal comes after the chief prosecutor in Tehran announced that about 1,000 people had been charged in connection with the protests that have engulfed the country. They reportedly face open mass trials.
One of the people who has been arrested is Mohammad Ghobadlu, 22. He was reportedly arrested and held in Parand, in Tehran Province.
In the footage, his mum, who has not been named, says: “They interrogated him without an attorney present… and in that first session of the court, sentenced him to death.
“Is this Islamic Justice? In what court do they decide death in the first session?
“They want to carry out the sentence quickly.
“Please… Please help and support us.”
Prosecutors claim that Mohammad “killed an officer named Vahid Karampour Hasanvand and injured him” by running him over with a car.
But Mohammad’s lawyer Amir Raisian, who took to Twitter to confirm that the young man had been sentenced without a lawyer present, added that footage from a speech at the officer’s funeral contradicts the prosecution’s version of the events.
The judiciary, while calling for Mohammad’s trial to be public, also did not allow his family members to be present, or any lawyers, according to independent Iranian media. Mohammad was tried along with six others in a trial overseen by Judge Salvati in the General and Revolution Court of Tehran.
The protests in Iran are continuing to grow despite widespread arrests, with activists saying that 14,000 people have now been arrested across the country.
Iranian forces have been cracking down on waves of civil disorder following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, who was on a visit to Tehran when she was arrested by the morality police, accused of violating hijab rules on 13th September.
She was allegedly beaten while in custody and spent the following days in a coma in the hospital before succumbing in the ICU on 16th September.
The clinic where she was treated said in a now-deleted social media post that she had been admitted brain-dead.
Alleged medical scans of her skull leaked by hackers showed that she had suffered bone fractures, haemorrhages, and brain oedema.
Independent Iranian media have claimed that Mahsa’s medical records showing her history of heart disease were faked by the Iranian government.
Dissident Iranian activists have now reportedly said that over 400 people have died as a result of security forces cracking down on the protests gripping the country.
