Rights group says Jewish Iranian set to be executed on Monday

A Jewish Iranian man is set to be executed on Monday for killing a man in a brawl two years ago when he was 18, an Iranian human rights group says.

According to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, 20, from the southwestern city of Kermanshah was set to be executed on Saturday, but his family was informed the execution will now take place on Monday.

Ghahremani was convicted of  “intentional murder” for his role in the fight two years ago.

The opposition linked Iran International news website says that Ghahremani was defending himself after being attacked with a knife.

The reports say that his only hope of being spared under Iran’s Islamic code is if the family of the dead man agree, something they have so far refused to do.

IHR carries a voice recording from from Ghahremani’s mother pleading for people to pray for her son’s rescue.

Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there were some 100,000 Jews in Iran; by 2016, according to an Iranian census, that number had fallen to below 10,000.

Amnesty International says Iran executed 853 people in 2023, the highest total since 2015.