The family of Erfan Soltani, the first Iranian protester sentenced to death since the unrest began, have been told his execution has been postponed. Soltani, a 26-year-old clothing shop employee, was arrested in Karaj last Thursday and was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to rights groups.
On Wednesday, hours after his scheduled execution, prison authorities called the family and said the execution had been postponed without offering further details. The family had stayed up until dawn waiting for news, knowing that executions are typically carried out around the morning call to prayers.
Soltani was denied access to a lawyer and legal defence, according to the Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. He was given the death penalty four days after his arrest, a period that human rights activists say deprived him of due process. Iran’s chief justice signalled that trials and executions would be swift, telling state media “we should do it now” to have an effect on protesters.
Rights groups have urged Iran to halt the execution, with Amnesty International expressing fears that authorities could “once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent”. More than 18,000 people have been arrested and at least 2,571 killed over the past two weeks, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists news agency.
