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Although the crime of Moharebeh explicitly refers to taking up arms against the state under Iranian laws, no evidence was produced to support such activity. The evidence used against the men included sending photographs of protests to contacts abroad, and visiting Camp Ashraf of MEK in Iraq.
Kazemi’s wife, Roudabeh Akbari, informed the Campaign that he had been tortured to try to force him to confess to the charges, but Kazemi consistently denied any illegal activity. Neither Kazemi nor Aghaee’s legal defenses challenging the charge of Moharebeh were properly considered by appeals courts. Kazemi’s lawyer has noted that, while Kazemi had been accused of having a planning and organizing role in massive 27 December 2009 Ashura Day protests, he had been arrested months before and was in jail at the time.
“The execution binge in Iran continues and the international community must do all it can to convince Iranian authorities to end it. No evidence of taking up arms against the government has been presented in Kazemi’s or Aghaee’s trials,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.
“Moharebeh has become the Iranian Judiciary’s catch-all justification for killing political dissidents,” he said.