Iran riots masterminds seek public sympathy for man charged with murder

By Hiba Morad

In the past few months, foreign-backed rioters have unleashed a reign of terror across Iran, killing a number of innocent civilians and security forces in a vicious campaign fueled by rabble-rousers in the West.

Many of them were arrested and put on trial. And they admitted to the crimes they committed. Some of these rioters not only voluntarily confessed to the murders, but were also identified in the videos and photos that went viral on social media.

One of these cases is that of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, which has generated a lot of buzz on social media in recent days.

All monotheistic religions agree that whoever takes a human life intentionally shall be put to death. Also, all religions stress the importance of social order and justice. In Islamic jurisprudence, only intentional killing calls for the death penalty.

The US and foreign media have been leading a vicious campaign against Iran, calling the riots-related executions “a killing spree”.

Intentional killing is a crime punishable by death even in the US, the country that pushed for the removal of Iran from the UN women’s panel, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In an attempt to manipulate public opinion regarding the execution of two men who admitted to their crimes during the past weeks, mainstream media outlets have mounted a campaign based on emotional rhetoric – interviews of the family members of those held amid recent deadly riots.

Recently, an interview with Karami’s father was released in which he expressed worry over his son’s fate. Media outlets and social media activists soon started to pick up bits and pieces of the interview of Mashallah Karami, who was driven by emotions, without taking into consideration the law of the land.

Same old media exploitation

Anti-Iran media soon rushed into circulating the interview giving it a false spin. Just like in previous instances, the interview was turned into dozens of reports peddling fake news, claiming that he was abused, beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and received rape threats.  

The media outlets tried to mount a campaign to influence public opinion and harness “public sympathy” for the convicted man, to have the verdict overturned.

Iran riots: 'We dragged, stabbed him to death, swayed by media propaganda'

A video of the judicial trial of three men involved in the brutal killing of a young Iranian Basiji has been circulating on social media, with confessions from the accused on how they murdered Seyed Ruhollah Ajamian, swayed by foreign media propaganda.

Mehdi Karami has been presented as “a national champion” in Karate, a “young innocent man”, an “imprisoned Iranian protestor” and a “Kurdish young man arrested at peaceful protests”.

Ethnic rhetoric has been widely used since the beginning of the unrest in Iran in mid-September, with a special focus on Kurds, to promote division and tension among Iran’s different ethnicities and back a “divide-Iran” policy. 

Confessions…in video

In a video, Karami confessed that he was present at the murder scene and took part in the killing of young Iranian Basiji Seyed Ruhollah Ajamian.

Ajamian was stabbed to death by a group of rioters armed with cold weapons in early November, hit brutally, and dragged alive on the street by no less than 30 people in Karaj city in the capital of central Alborz province.

Karami described how he and other rioters murdered Ajamian in cold blood and narrated in detail the gruesome incident before the court in the presence of Ajamian’s family.

In the video from the court published online, Karami says: “I hit him with a stone on his head, and then punched his head three times. He fell to the ground. As soon as he fell to the ground, a guy kicked him violently on his side and trunk.”

He also admitted there were many white weapons with rioters, which does repudiate claims that they were so-called “peaceful protestors”.

Karami is seen in a video circulating online following the brutal murder, hitting Ajamian on the face with his boots and dragging him on Asphalt while the young man sinks in his blood and someone shouts in the background “enough, enough”. Karimi confessed to the crime without coercion.

Karami’s pretext for his misconduct and participation in the killing was that he was “misled” by foreign media and that the intense campaigns had gotten him and his friends.

Young people these days have been smitten by the celebrity culture and media campaigns, brainwashed by social media posts of the likes of Iran’s former footballer Ali Karimi and the CIA agent Masih Alinejad. These people have been stoking hatred and violence through fake news, prompting young Iranian men to carry out dastardly acts of crime.

Majid Reza Rahnavard, who was executed a few days ago for killing two young Basiji men in Mashhad, said in a video that he was influenced by Karimi, and was emotionally manipulated.

Mashallah Karami and some other parents want their sons alive, even though they probably know deep down that they committed diabolic crimes, and this is fathomable.

However, the law shall take its course. For any society to survive, it must anchor itself on the law which governs the behavior of the society, relations, rights, and obligations.

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