Tehran Revolutionary Court Head: Protest Leaders to be Tried as "At War Against God," Face Death Penalty
A Warning from the Revolutionary Court Chief
[This news concerning the protests] comes at a time when the head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court had issued a warning: “Every day that goes by of these riots, as people are arrested, the crimes [they will be charged with] and their punishments will increase. We no longer think of these as demonstrators protesting for their rights: these are rather people who would like to strike at the heart of the regime.”
Hojjat ol-Eslam Ghazanfar Abadi told Tasnim News Agency that “Those arrested in these riots from the third day on shall [be charged with] serious crimes and face severe punishments. Their leaders will be tried as being at war against God*.”
Four Arrested for Flag Desecration
Citing security forces spokesman Commander Said Montazer ol-Mahdi, the Reporters’ Club broke news that four people who had desecrated the sacred flag of the Islamic Republic had been identified and arrested by security police. “There is no Iranian whose heart does not break for his country: indeed, it breaks to see those who would burn his country’s flag,” said Commander Montazer ol-Mahdi.
*ABC note: The named official uses the term “mohareb,” a loosely defined security offense which carries the death penalty in Iranian law