Matin Mohammadi

Matin Mohammadi is a 17-year-old protester and one of four defendants accused of attacking Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Pakdasht on 8 January, which led to the death of two people. The trial of Matin and two other teenage protesters, Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarlu and Erfan Amiri was aired by state media on 14 February.

Human rights lawyer Milad Panahipour, Ehsan Hosseinipour’s chosen lawyer, warned that the state's case is devoid of factual evidence and built entirely on torture-tainted confessions. According to Panahipour, authorities suppressed footage of the first two trial sessions where Ehsan testified that armed officers extracted his confessions by forcing a weapon into his mouth, choosing instead to broadcast a later confession filmed without legal counsel present. Furthermore, Panahipour highlighted glaring chronological inconsistencies, noting that Ehsan was arrested two hours before the alleged mosque arson even began, does not appear in any footage of the attack, and has his alibi fully corroborated by judicially obtained mobile phone location data.

Charges: “Operational action against internal security through effective participation in the unrest of 8 January in Pakdasht county; assembly and collusion to be present and act against the country’s internal security following calls circulated on hostile social media, particularly by the President of the United States and the usurping Zionist regime; participation in the killing of two young defenders of the country’s security during a sacred month; the deliberate arson of Seyed al-Shohada Mosque; and the destruction of public property.”

Status: Sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari. On 23 April, it was reported that the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.

On 29 April, Milad Panahipour and Amir Raesian were summoned for their efforts in the case. They were indicted on charges of “publishing falsehoods and propaganda against the system” before being released on bail.