Iranian court denies retrial for Jewish man facing execution; Jews raise $1.5 million to spare his life

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By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Despite international advocacy on behalf of a Jewish man facing execution, Iran denied the request for his retrial.

Advocates for Nathaniel Ghahremani said he killed a Muslim man in self-defense after he ran at him with a knife.

Iran is governed by Sharia law, which provides harsher punishments for non-Muslims who kill Muslims than in incidents when both parties are Muslim.

Arvin Natanel Ghahremani was involved in a 2022 brawl in the city of Kermanshah.

Court transcripts indicate that Ghahermani was working out at a gym when he was confronted by seven men, one of whom owed him money.

One of the mob, identified as Amir Shokri, stabbed Ghahermani with a knife. Shokri was killed after Ghahermani wrested the knife away and fought back in self-defense.

Ghahermani was convicted by a local court of being an “accomplice to the intentional murder of a Muslim” and for “intentionally inflicting nonfatal injuries.”

He was immediately sentenced to death by hanging, which cannot be appealed under Iranian law.

The only way to avoid capital punishment for the killing, under Iranian law, is if the defendant acquired forgiveness from the dead man’s family, something they refused to grant.

Iran International wrote, according to the IHRNGO, “the decision places Ghahremani at immediate risk of execution, underscoring a judicial process marred by oversight and lack of fair representation.”

Beni Sabti, who was born in Tehran and is an Iran expert for the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel told The Jerusalem Post, “In these last days and weeks, there have been international efforts to release him and get the Muslim family to forgive him and turn the execution to a prison term.”

He added, “Jews in the US and other countries raised funds amounting to over $1.5 million, including an offer of an apartment and the building of a mosque in the name of the dead Muslim man. It seems that they did not agree.”

Sabti explained, “I am not surprised. Most of the time, the regime and judiciary system do not cooperate with the person who is going to be executed.”

He added, “They enjoy it and do not care. They do not do anything to the change verdict.” Sabti emphasized, “In any hour we can hear the news that he can be executed.”

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He added that the Iranian regime can “say to a family he will be executed on Wednesday and the family comes on Monday and they say he has already been executed. This is Iran.”