Just days after Iran's judiciary chief called for dialogue with people, he ordered judges Thursday to issue tough sentences for the "main elements of riots," ignited after the death in custody of a young woman.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said, "I have instructed our judges to avoid showing unnecessary sympathy to main elements of these riots and issue tough sentences for them while separating the less guilty people."
In a show of leniency on Tuesday, October 11, Ejei had said “I’m ready. Let’s talk. If we’ve made mistakes, we can amend them,” however, hardly any Iranian believed the soft tone which came for the first time in 43 years from the Islamic Republic’s authorities.
The current uprising sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's hijab or “morality” police on September 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
On Wednesday, a large number of defense attorneys and people held a protest outside Tehran Bar Association demanding fair trial for thousands of protesters arrested since mid-September. The government denies access to a lawyer for many detainees or appoints its own attorneys who follow instructions by the notorious Judiciary.
Later, a leading attorney, Saeed Dehghan was quoted as saying that three attorneys participating in the protest were detained.
