Iran revokes death penalties handed to three protesters
The executions were reduced to jail terms in a controversial case that had drawn a furious public backlash.
A court in the Iranian capital handed five-year jail sentences to three anti-government protesters, officially reversing their death penalties issued at a trial in 2020.
The three, Amir-Hossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi and Mohammad Rajabi, were detained during the country's November 2019 unrest that was triggered by an unpopular fuel price hike plan.
Babak Paknia, the lawyer representing them, announced the verdict on Twitter, adding that the jail sentences were also open to appeal. "The time they have already served will effectively make them qualified for conditional release," he further noted, referring to parole on compassionate grounds.
Following their arrest, the three defendants were put on trial as "riot leaders acting against the Islamic Republic" and were given capital punishment by notorious hard-line judge Abol-Qasem Salavati, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union over alleged human rights violations.
