Iranian authorities have handed inhumane punishment, such as flogging, and prison sentences to protesters who attended a rally in January 2020 against the downing of Ukrainian airliner flight PS752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp of Iran.
The Ukrainian plane that had 167 passengers on board, was indiscriminately shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The Iranian authorities attempted to cover up the truth and denied any responsibility of wrongdoing for three days until video evidence was produced by a witness. When the authorities finally admitted responsibility on January 11, as a result Protesters gathered in January 2020 to condemn the Iranian regime's actions.
Many were beaten, arrested and now face flogging and imprisonment. Seyed Mostafa Hashemzadeh is a Civil Engineering student, who was sentenced to five years in prison and 74 lashes by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran for taking part in student demonstrations. Another student, Mostafa Hashemzadeh of Tehran University, was also ordered to do three months of unpaid community service and banned from entering the university’s dormitory for two years.
Amir Mohammad Sharifi, another student at Tehran University, was earlier in the year given a three month sentence by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran for “propaganda against the state”. Amir's supposed crime was that he had taken photographs of the agents entering a dormitory and taking away a fellow student.
Morteza Mahdavi, part of Iran's unjust Amol Revolutionary Court, sentenced 11 protesters for a combine sentence of over seven years for attending the protests. The so-called crime noted was lighting a candle in Ghaem Square to show sympathy with the families of the victims of the plane crash. Another protester, Shora Fekri , was sentences to six months in prison for visiting a memorial services held for the victims of the plane attack.
The weakness of the Iranian authorities is shown here as they are afraid of Iranian's mourning and attending vigils, and hand prison sentences for trivial matters with an aim to oppress the Iranian people further.