Erfam Soltani won’t be executed after Iran backtracks on death sentence
A shopkeeper facing execution over his involvement in the Iran protests is no longer at risk of the death penalty.
Essam Soltani, 26, was detained last week as Iran has been swept by mass protests against the regime, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths and arrests after violence.
He is thought to have been the first Iranian protester facing death penalty since the latest demonstrations.
Soltani’s family said he could be executed at any moment before Iranian regime appeared to make a U-turn.
Iran’s state-controlled media said today that Soltani’s charge is ‘colluding against the country’s internal security and propaganda activities against the regime’ and that death penalty does not apply to it if confirmed by a court.
Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran earlier in the week after the mounting death toll, saying that the US military was looking at ‘some very strong options.’
The US president said today he has been told that the regime’s deadly crackdown against protesters is easing and there are no plans for mass executions.
Protests have swept through Iranian cities and towns in recent weeks, sparked by unhappiness over rampant inflation. The regime was quick to shut down the country’s Internet, although some people have been able to use the satellite Starlink.
More than 2,000 are feared dead and almost 20,000 people have been arrested during the unrest, according the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The protests and Trump’s involvement have further soured the already tense relationship between Tehran and Washington.
The US, which has at least 19 military bases in the Middle East, began pulling military personnel from some of the locations.
Iran issued a threat to Trump live on state TV and during pro-regime rallies, saying that ‘next time the bullet won’t miss.’
While the Iranian regime and the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are holding onto power, Iranian opposition abroad has gathered momentum.
Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince and the son of the last Shah of Iran who was toppled, has emerged as a prominent voice.
Trump described him as ‘very nice, but I don’t know how he’d play within his own country.’
He continued: ‘And we really aren’t up to that point yet.
‘I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership, and certainly if â they would, that would be fine with me.’
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.