Iran executions and the role of ’revolutionary courts’

Professor Simon Rice from Sydney Law School explains the role of Iran's 'revolutionary courts' in the suppression of widespread protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. The Iranian government has attempted to brutally suppress the widespread protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Central to Iran's response have been the country's "revolutionary courts". They have conducted heavily-criticised trials resulting in  at least four executions , while over 100 protesters are in considerable danger of imminent execution. Criminal trials in these courts often occur behind closed doors presided over by clerics, with none of the standard guarantees of criminal procedure such as allowing time and access to lawyers to prepare a defence. Submissions to the United Nations  from Iranian civil society organisations  report that lawyers are routinely denied access to clients, and that coerced confessions, often obtained by torture, are used as evidence. Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch,  describes the trials  as "a total travesty of justice".