Iran to execute mentally ill man for allegedly burning Qur'an during protest

Source: The Guardian

Iran to execute mentally ill man for allegedly burning Qur’an during protest

Rights groups say Javad Rouhi, who was sentenced on charges including apostasy, was tortured so badly he can no longer speak

Maryam Foumani and Patrick Wintour
Thu 19 Jan 2023 11.34 GMT
Last modified on Thu 19 Jan 2023 21.07 GMT

A 35-year-old man from a small village in northern Iran has been sentenced to death on charges including apostasy for allegedly burning a Qur’an and “insulting holy things” during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Javad Rouhi has not been entitled to a lawyer of his choice in court and suffers from a severe mental illness. Human rights groups say he was tortured so terribly in a detention centre run by the feared Revolutionary Guards that he lost his ability to speak and walk, and became incontinent.

Rouhi was sentenced to death on 3 January on three generic charges – waging war against God, corruption on Earth, and apostasy – and the specific charge of inciting people to fight and kill each other in relation to an alleged incident in Nowshahr, Mazandaran province, on 21 September.

He was accused with two others of entering the headquarters of the traffic police in Nowshahr, setting it on fire, throwing items from inside on to the street and burning items, including a Qur’an. According to the Mizan news agency, run by Iran’s judiciary, the chief justice of the province said Rouhi had “confessed to the fact that he destroyed the headquarters and set it on fire”.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/iran-to-execute-mentally-ill-man-for-allegedly-burning-quran-during-protest

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