Iran Executes Jewish Man Despite Attempts to Avert Sentence
Authorities in Iran on Monday executed a Jewish man, Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, despite international attempts to avert the death sentence.
by COLlive Editor · COLliveAuthorities in Iran on Monday executed a Jewish man, Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, who had been sentenced to death for murder, Iranian media reported.
“The sentence of retribution was executed this morning,” said Hamidreza Karimi, the prosecutor for Kermanshah in western Iran, according to the Mehr news agency.
According to one version of events, in November 2022, seven men, including Amir Shokri, a non-Jewish man who owed money to Ghahremani, then 18, ambushed him at a gym.
The purported victim, Amir Shokri, pulled out a large knife and stabbed Ghahremani. Ghahremani fought back in self-defense and fatally stabbed him.
Under Iranian law, relatives of murder victims may choose to accept a cash settlement and spare the killer’s life. Shokri’s family declined the cash offer and insisted on the sentence being carried out, Mehr reported.
Ghahremani’s family had said during his trial that “key errors in the case were intentionally ignored” and that his actions to save the victim were not taken into account, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The man’s relatives also said that Ghahremani was not adequately represented by his defense lawyer.
Ghahremani’s execution had been set for May, but he received a last-minute stay of execution. Jewish activists, including Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association, had been working to stop the execution.
Great efforts were made via international organizations to prevent the execution. Various parties appealed to several countries to intervene, including Russia and Germany. Additionally, lawyers and officials in Iranian Jewish communities in the US made efforts to try to influence the family of the victim to commute the death sentence and accept financial compensation.
The Islamic Republic executed 853 people in 2023—the most since 2015, London-based Amnesty International said last month.
Earlier this year, Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, expressed concerns that Ghahremani was not receiving a fair trial because he was Jewish.
“We note with concern that Iranian authorities often subject Jewish citizens to different standards when it comes to determining judgments in cases of this nature,” she said.
Never Miss a Headline!
Sign up for the COLlive Daily News Roundup and never miss a story
Opt In
- I would like to receive the collive newsletter