Two 19-year-old twin sisters in Iran are going through harsh punishment over their alleged function in anti-government protests earlier this yr.
Taraneh Rahimi has been sentenced to loss of life, whereas her sister Romina Rahimi has been handed a 25-year jail time period. The sisters had been nonetheless in highschool once they had been arrested. Masked males took them from their house in the midst of the night time, based on The Guardian.
The lads had been later recognized as individuals despatched by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Their household didn’t know the place the sisters had been for 4 months. Their mom, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, searched hospitals and authorities establishments earlier than lastly being informed that her daughters had been being held at Dowlatabad jail in Isfahan.
She was allowed to see them in Might. Nonetheless, based on reviews, she couldn’t recognise her personal daughters as they’d bruises throughout their our bodies and their faces had been badly swollen. Their cousin, Masoud Nourmohammadi, who lives in Utah within the US, stated they’d damaged elbows, knuckles and toes. He additionally stated their hair had been pulled out.
Based on him, jail employees dragged the sisters by their hair from one cell to a different. They had been additionally stored in solitary confinement.
Taraneh, who desires of at some point working her personal horse steady, allegedly informed the courtroom that she was tortured and that any confession she made was compelled. She was additionally reportedly threatened with the sexual assault of her sister. Based on the household, jail guards informed Taraneh they might rape Romina in entrance of her if she didn’t signal a confession.
The sisters’ mom, who raised them alone and is now 20 years outdated, was not allowed to attend their trial. Their legal professionals reportedly informed the courtroom that the sisters’ statements had been obtained by means of torture. The household has additionally claimed that no proof was introduced displaying that both sister had taken half in violence in the course of the protests. They’d not beforehand participated in protests.
Taraneh and Romina joined demonstrations on January 8 and 9 in Isfahan as thousands and thousands of individuals took to the streets throughout Iran. A couple of month later, the 2 had been taken from their house with baggage positioned over their heads.
“The household did not know the place they had been,” their cousin stated. Family members looked for them at totally different courts and hospitals earlier than receiving a name informing their mom that the women had been discovered and had been being held in jail.
Masoud Nourmohammadi stated the household doesn’t perceive the courtroom’s selections. He additionally questioned whether or not the authorities had been following Iran’s personal authorized procedures. He stated legal professionals are usually given 18 days to enchantment an execution sentence. However he claimed this course of has not been adopted in a number of latest instances.
He believes Taraneh’s loss of life sentence is also meant to frighten different protesters. He stated the authorities could also be attempting to ship a message that anybody could be punished for protesting.
Iran has executed greater than 500 individuals this yr because the US-Israel warfare started in February and at the very least 29 of these executed had been linked to the January protests. No less than 16 girls are amongst these executed.
A whole lot of different protesters have been sentenced to loss of life or are going through costs that might result in the loss of life penalty. Greater than 70 such instances are reportedly in Isfahan.
Final month, the UK and 30 different nations condemned the executions.
