Mohammad Marzieh

Mohammad Marzieh, as the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Zahedan, was directly responsible for the illegal execution of 16 Baluch political prisoners in retaliation for an attack by armed groups on the Islamic Republic's border guards in Saravan. On November 24, 2013, 14 border guards of the Islamic Republic were killed in an attack by armed groups in the Saravan region. Less than 12 hours later, 16 Baluch prisoners who had nothing to do with the attack were executed in Zahedan. In an interview with Fars News Agency, Mohammad Marzieh officially confirmed the execution of these 16 people in retaliation for the attack on the border guards. Marzieh told Fars News Agency:

"We have already given warnings to the elements of the miscreants and groups opposed to the regime that if any action is taken that harms innocent people and security and law enforcement agents, we will retaliate, this morning in response to the attack on the border guards of Saravan city, we executed 16 miscreants affiliated with anti-regime groups."

16 members of anti-regime groups were executed in Zahedan, Fars News, November 25, 2013

https://www.farsnews.ir/news/13920804000374/6-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B6%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%87%DA%A9%E2%80%8C%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF-%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B4%D8%AF%D9%86%D8%AF

Brutal revenge on prisoners; Sixteen people were executed in Zahedan, Solidarity for Democracy and Human Rights, November 25, 2013

http://www.hambastegi-iran.org/spip.php?article2902

Execution of 16 Baluch Prisoners Emphasis on Continuation of Government Policy to Create Terror, FIDH, November 25, 2013

https://www.fidh.org/fa/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D9%87/%D8%A2%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7/%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86/14179-%C3%98%C2%A7%C3%98%C2%B9%C3%98%C2%AF%C3%98%C2%A7%C3%99%E2%80%A6-16-%C3%98%C2%B2%C3%99%E2%80%A0%C3%98%C2%AF%C3%98%C2%A7%C3%99%E2%80%A0%C3%9B%C5%92-%C3%98%C2%A8%C3%99%E2%80%9E%C3%99%CB%86%C3%9A%E2%80%A0-%C3%98%C2%AA%C3%98%C2%A7%C3%9A%C2%A9%C3%9B%C5%92%C3%98%C2%AF%C3%9B%C5%92-%C3%98%C2%A8%C3%98%C2%B1-%C3%98%C2%AA%C3%98%C2%AF%C3%98%C2%A7%C3%99%CB%86%C3%99%E2%80%A6

Execution of 16 Baluch political prisoners in Zahedan: in response to the killing of 18 border guards of the "Mersad" special group by gunmen, Al-Arabiya, November 25, 2013

https://farsi.alarabiya.net/iran/2013/10/26/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85-16-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%84%D9%88%DA%86-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-

Abdul Qudus was a Baluch clergy of the minority of Sunni Muslims in Iran. On December 13, 2007, Iranshahr Intelligence agents arrested Mr. Mollazehi, along with 19 others, including his son and son-in-law, at his home in the village of Shah Jamal, Iranshahr, without showing an arrest warrant.

According to Mr. Mollazehi's cellmates, he was severely tortured by security agents at the Zahedan Intelligence Detention Centre As a result of severe torture and threatening his family members, the intelligence agents forced Mollazehi to make televised confessions. The confessions obtained under torture were cited by the court as the main evidence for sentencing.

Mr. Mollazehi's trial lasted only one hour and he was denied the right to a lawyer. In February 2007, a court sentenced Mollazehi to death. Mollazehi along with 5 other prisoners was executed on April 11, 2008 by the order and under the supervision of Mohammad Marzieh, the then prosecutor of Zahedan. His body was never returned to his family and was secretly buried by security agents.

Abdul Qudus Mollazehi: A Story, Boroumand Foundation, 2008

https://www.iranrights.org/fa/memorial/story/-8451/abdolqodus-mollazehi

Two Sunni clerics were hanged in Zahedan, Radio Farda, April 2008

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_sunni_clerics_hanged/443096.html

Zahedan Prosecutor, One of Balochistan Human Rights Violators, Replaced, Baloch Activists Campaign, November 2016

https://balochcampaign.us/%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d9%87%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%86-%db%8c%da%a9%db%8c-%d8%a7%d8%b2-%da%86%d9%87%d8%b1%d9%87-%d9%87%d8%a7%db%8c-%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%b6-%d8%ad%d9%82%d9%88/

Mohammad Marzieh, as the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Zahedan, was responsible for the execution of dozens of political prisoners and ethnic and religious minorities in Sistan and Baluchestan Province including the execution of Mohammad Yousef Sohrabi on April 11, 2008.

Sohrabi was a Sunni Baluch cleric from the village of Mate Sang in Sistan and Baluchestan. On December 13, 2007, Iranshahr Intelligence agents arrested Mr. Sohrabi, along with 19 others, at the Dar al-Furqan religious school in Iranshahr, without showing an arrest warrant. Sohrabi was then transferred to the Zahedan Intelligence Detention Centre. According to Sohrabi's cellmates, he was severely tortured in this detention centre for his televised confession. As a result of severe physical and mental torture and threating his family members, intelligence agents forced Sohrabi to make televised confessions. The confessions obtained under torture were cited by the court as the main evidence for sentencing.

The trial of Mr. Sohrabi lasted only one hour and he was denied the right to a lawyer. In February 2007, a court sentenced Sohrabi to death. Sohrabi, along with five others, was executed on April 11, 2008 by order and under the supervision of Mohammad Marzieh, the then prosecutor of Zahedan. His body was never returned to his family.

Mohammad Yousef Sohrabi: A Story, Boroumand Foundation, April 2008

https://www.iranrights.org/fa/memorial/story/-8090/mohammad-yusef-sohrabi-nokohchi

Two Sunni clerics were hanged in Zahedan, Radio Farda, April 2008

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/o2_sunni_clerics_hanged/443096.html

Zahedan Prosecutor, One of Balochistan Human Rights Violators, Replaced, Baloch Activists Campaign, November 2016

https://balochcampaign.us/%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d9%87%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%86-%db%8c%da%a9%db%8c-%d8%a7%d8%b2-%da%86%d9%87%d8%b1%d9%87-%d9%87%d8%a7%db%8c-%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%b6-%d8%ad%d9%82%d9%88/

Mohammad Marzieh, as the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Zahedan, was responsible for the execution of dozens of political prisoners and ethnic and religious minorities in Sistan and Baluchestan Province including the execution of Salahuddin Seyedi on March 4, 2009.

Seyedi was a Sunni Baluch cleric from the village of Nasirabad in Sarbaz County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province. On June 17, 2008, Iranshahr intelligence agents arrested Mr. Seyedi, along with 27 others, without showing an arrest warrant in the village where he lived. Seyedi was transferred to Zahedan Intelligence Detention Centre two days later and then to Ward 3 of Zahedan Central Prison. He spent about a month and a half in solitary confinement and was severely tortured for making false confessions. As a result of severe physical and mental torture and threatening his family members, intelligence agents forced Seyedi to make false confessions. These confessions obtained under torture and were cited by the court as the main evidence for sentencing.

Mr. Seyedi was tried without due process and was denied the right to a lawyer. The court sentenced Seyedi to death in December 2008. During his detention and before the trial, Seyedi was informed of the final sentence by his interrogator, who told him, "Your sentence is death and you will not leave here alive." Seyedi was executed along with another Sunni cleric (Khalilullah Zarei) on March 3, 2009 by order and under the supervision of Mohammad Marzieh, the then prosecutor of Zahedan. Mr. Seyedi's belongings and body were never returned to his family.

Salahuddin Seyedi: A story, Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation, March 2009

https://www.omidmemorial.org/fa/memorial/story/-8383/salaheddin-seyedi

Execution of two Sunni clerics in Zahedan, the official Sunni information base of Iran, March 5, 2009

http://sunnionline.us/farsi/2009/03/217

Zahedan Prosecutor, One of Balochistan Human Rights Violators, Replaced, Baloch Activists Campaign, November 2016

https://balochcampaign.us/%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d9%87%d8%af%d8%a7%d9%86-%db%8c%da%a9%db%8c-%d8%a7%d8%b2-%da%86%d9%87%d8%b1%d9%87-%d9%87%d8%a7%db%8c-%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%b6-%d8%ad%d9%82%d9%88/

Mohammad Marzieh, as the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Zahedan, was responsible for the execution of dozens of political prisoners and ethnic and religious minorities in Sistan and Baluchestan Province including the execution of Yaghoub Mehrnehad, a journalist and civil activist, on March 5, 2009.

Yaghoub Mehrnehad was the secretary of the Voice of Justice Youth Association, which was established with the permission of the National Youth Organization and engaged in cultural and educational activities. Mehrnehad was arrested in May 2007 during a meeting entitled "Enquirer Youth, Accountable Officials" and was interrogated and severely tortured for five months in the Zahedan Ministry of Intelligence detention centre.

Finally, on December 25, 2007, Mehrnehad's trial was held behind closed doors, without a jury and without Mehrnahad’s access to lawyer. He was charged in court with membership in terrorist groups, but no evidence has been provided to prove the allegations. The court sentenced Mehrnehad to death and in violation of the Iranian Law, he was given only six days, instead of twenty, to prepare an appeal motion. Zahedan's Ministry of Intelligence dissuaded Mehrnehad's family from hiring a lawyer for him by threatening them and promising to change his sentence. Finally, on August 5, 2008, Yaghoub Mehrnehad was executed by order and under the supervision of Mohammad Marzieh, the then prosecutor of Zahedan.

Yaghoub Mehrnehad: A Story, Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation, August 2008

https://www.omidmemorial.org/fa/memorial/story/40798/yaqub-mehrnahad

Yaghoub Mehrnehad, Journalist and Civil Activist of Sistan and Baluchestan, Sentenced to Death, Amirkabir, February 13, 2008

https://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2008/02/067921.php

The death sentence for a Baloch activist has been confirmed, BBC Farsi, February 20, 2008

https://www.bbc.com/persian/iran/story/2008/02/080219_dd_mirnahad

Judiciary upholds the death sentence of Yaghoub Mehrnehad, Radio Farda, February 20, 2008

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f3_mehrnahad_execution/435576.html

Protests against the death sentence of Yaghoub Mehrnehad continue, Radio Farda, March 23, 2008

https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f3_bloggers_journalist_mehrnehad/435914.html

As the prosecutor of Zahedan, Mohammad Marzieh was involved in sentencing Sakhi Rigi, a blogger, to 20 years in prison on charges of "spreading lies" and "acting against national security." Sakhi Rigi was sentenced to prison and exile for publishing an article on his personal blog about the imminent execution of political prisoner Yaghoub Mehrnehad. This was one of the heaviest prison sentences for a blogger in Iran.

Mohammad Marzieh, Zahedan’s Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor, said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA) about Sakhi Rigi:

“Sakhi Rigi, known as Saeed Baluch, was sentenced to exile and imprisonment for his cyber activities to advance the goals of terrorist groups and to disturb the public opinion. Before the execution of Yaghoub Mehrnehad, this person published extensive articles on his blog in order to disturb the public opinion about this execution."

Yaghoub Mehrnehad, born in 1979 in Balochistan province, a political science student at the University of Tehran, a journalist and civil activist was executed in August 2008 on charges of collaborating with groups opposed to the Islamic Republic. Sakhi Rigi was released in July 2019 after serving 10 years in prison.

Sakhi Rigi, Baluch blogger released from prison after serving 10 years, Campaign to Defend Political Prisoners, July 6, 2019

https://www.kampain.info/archive/34883.htm

Sakhi Rigi was released, journalism is not a crime, July 2019

https://journalismisnotacrime.com/fa/wall/sakhirigi/

Baloch blogger; 9 years in prison, 20 days on hunger strike, Deutsche Welle, 2018

https://www.dw.com/fa-ir/iran/a-44679752

Mohammad Marzieh, as a judge of Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Zahedan, is responsible for issuing the death sentence for Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzehi due to the political activities of their relatives and family members. Elias Qalandarzehi and Hassan Dehvari were arrested on December 7, 2014 in Saravan and transferred to the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in Zahedan. The two detainees were detained to force Hassan Dehvari's brother and cousin and four uncles of Elias Qalandarzehi, well-known Baloch political activists to surrender themselves to the Iranian security forces.

Dehvari and Qalandarzehi were severely tortured in the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre. They described their torture in two voice messages to the UN Special Rapporteur. Hassan Dehvari describes the torture:

"The next day, my wife and children and the wife and children of Elias Qalandarzehi were arrested and transferred to the Zahedan Intelligence Office. In the Intelligence Detention centre, we were subjected to severe physical and psychological torture, such as threatening to rape, tying to a bed and severe torture with all kinds of whipping tools, cable wires and putting a helmet on our heads and inflicting an electric shock, trying to pull the nails of the hands and feet and turning on a drill and threatening to drill our limbs and bringing our family before our eyes with a video camera threatening that if we do not accept [making false confessions], they will be raped and filmed."

False confessions were obtained from these two prisoners under such torture methods, and they were finally tried in a court presided over by Judge Mohammad Marzieh on December 3, 2016, without observing the principles of a fair trial and without the right of access to a lawyer. Hassan Dehdari says about his trial by Mohammad Marzieh:

"We said that we accepted [allegations] under duress and severe physical and mental torture, but the judge did not pay attention to what we said. Even when we said that we were treated like this in the Ministry of Intelligence, he laughed and said that “you deserved it”. He confessed that he knows where we had been arrested and that he was absolutely certain that we were innocent, but as long as Elias's uncles ​​and my brother and cousins, who are political activists, did not surrender, you will be our hostage, and if they do not surrender, we will execute  you instead.  Now we are being held hostage”.

Mohammad Marzieh sentenced the two prisoners to death on charges of moharebeh (armed struggle). Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzehi were executed on January 3, 2021.

Shocking remarks of Elias Qalandarzehi , a prisoner taken hostage waiting for execution, Javaneha, December 10, 2016

https://javanehha.com/2021/01/07/%D8%B3%D8%AE%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D9%82%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%87%DB%8C-%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D8%B2/

The voice of political prisoner Elias Qalandarzehi who was executed, human rights and democracy activists, December 8, 2016

https://hrdai.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2656:1399-10-17-20-44-37&catid=1:2010-07-21-10-18-57&Itemid=4

The Voice of Political Prisoner Hassan Dehvari, who was executed, Human Rights and Democracy Activists, January 8, 2017

https://hrdai.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2654:1399-10-16-20-14-23&catid=1:2010-07-21-10-18-57&Itemid=4

Two words and one point, announcing the end of the life of a political convict, Persian Independent, October 26, 2016

https://www.independentpersian.com/node/87136/%D8%AF%D9%88-%DA%A9%D9%84%D9%85%D9%87-%D9%88-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%86%D9%82%D8%B7%D9%87%D8%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%BE%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%AD%DA%A9%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C

Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzehi were executed, Radio Zamaneh, December 5, 2016

https://www.radiozamaneh.com/565005/

Executed Baloch citizens; From Fueling to Confession Under Torture, Iran Wire, December 5, 2016

https://iranwire.com/fa/features/44736