October 25, 2024
Mohammad-Javad Vafai-Thani (photo), a political prisoner jailed in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison, has just been sentenced to death for the third time by the city’s Revolutionary Courts. The 28-year-old boxing coach was arrested in 2020, convicted of “corruption on earth” and sentenced to hang. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction and sent the case back for re-trial. He was again convicted and again sentenced to hang. That second decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2023 and a new trial ordered before a new judge. That third trial has now resulted in another death sentence.
