Navid Najaran

Navid Najaran is a 33-year-old “Woman, Life, Freedom” protester and one of the defendants in the case known as “Ekbatan” (name of the Tehran neighbourhood where the protest took place). He was arrested in Ahvaz on 2 December 2022 accused of injuring an IRGC member named Arman Ali Verdi on 26 October 2022, which led to his death two days later. The defendants in the case were subjected to torture and ill-treatment to extract false self-incriminating confessions that were later aired by state media. They were also taken to the scene of the alleged crime on 18 December 2022 to reenact what took place. They were held in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr Prison) until its closure in August 2023 when he was transferred to Ghezelhesar Prison. 

REVOLUTIONARY COURT CASE: In a press conference on 26 April 2023, a Judiciary spokesman said Milad Armoun and two others were indicted for charges of moharebeh (enmity against god). The lawyers in the case have confirmed that Milad, Navid and the two other defendants’ case has been assigned to Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by “Death Judge” Salavati. The Revolutionary Court is awaiting the decision in the Criminal Court case before commencing proceedings.

CRIMINAL COURT CASE: Sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for participation in murder by Branch 13 of the Tehran Criminal Court on 13 November 2024. There were conflicting reports from lawyers about the status of the Ekbatan case. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, Milad’s lawyer, emphasised in an interview that the sentence has not been overturned by the Supreme Court as reported by other lawyers on the case. Rather, “the Supreme Court has raised a series of questions and sent the case to a parallel branch, asking that these questions be answered without issuing a final ruling so that the Supreme Court can then issue its final decision.”