Iranian police officer Jafar Javanmardi sentenced to death for killing a 27-year-old protester, Mehran Samak, in Tehran—North of Iran

Tehran— An Iranian court has after a review of officer Jafar Javanmardi’s charges, brought before it, sentenced him to death for killing a 27-year-old man, Mehran Samak, during a mass protest.

According to a local source, Samak incurred fatal injuries after being hit by shotgun pellets during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini in custody on November 30, 2022 in the Northside of Bandar Anzali city, Iran.

Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died while in police custody in September 2022 after she was arrested for suspectedly violating Iran’s women dress code.

Following Amini’s death, which sparked widespread aggressive demonstrations by some dissatisfied Iranian youths, the police chief ,Jafar Javanmardi, was arrested in December 2022.

The lawyer of the victim’s family said, during an interview with the reformist Shargh daily, officer Jafar was sentenced to death, “in accordance with the Islamic law of retributive justice, described as the ‘qisas’, on the charge of premeditated murder”.

Generally, there are similar cases of such police violent reactions to protesters, where Iranian officers appeared to have the tradition of executing young protesters against human rights abuses.

Some groups of human-rights activists, based outside of Iran, said the Iranian security officials shot Samak dead after honking his car in celebration of the United States’ victory against Iran in the 2022 World Cup, which was hosted in Qatar where Amini’s death protest was also ongoing then.

Following the incident, Iran was removed from participating in the football tournament due to mixed responses from the government’s opposition groups and among its own Officials.

In mid-January, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said the Supreme Court had annulled a death sentence and referred the case to another court, VOA detailed.

It said Gilan province, where Bandar Anzali is located, was a flashpoint of the nationwide protest movement that shook Iran

Also during the months-lingered aggressive protest, hundreds of Iranian citizens were killed, tens of others arrested in connection to the public protest, including security officials who lost their lives.