Mohammad Amin Valian

Mohammad Amin Valian (born March, 31 1989) is an Iranian student who was sentenced to death for participating in a 28 December 2009 demonstration protesting the 2009 presidential election in Iran.^[1] According to elple.net, charges listed against him were "Moharebeh, conspiracy to undermine national security, spreading propaganda, insulting high government officials." Among his crimes are

chanting "Death to the dictator;" statements released by the Central Council of Islamic Association of Damghan Science University, of which he is a member; and arranging debates between two marginal election candidates at the university. The evidence used against him included pictures of him throwing rocks at an Ashura protest^[2]

He was convicted of Moharebeh, or defiance of God, under Iranian Islamic law. Valian was an electoral campaigner in the town of Damghan for 2009 presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and is also a member of reformist student group called Office for Strengthening Unity^[1] and studied at Damaghan Science University.^[2]

Valian is one of 11 people sentenced to death so far for taking part in opposition protests challenging the legitimacy of the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As of March 2010, two of the eleven have been executed.^[1]

Iranian opposition leaders and some Islamic scholars have criticised the use of moharabeh and the death penalty against street protests,^[3] and in a 5 March 2010 statement the US government criticized his sentence as "disproportionate."^[4]

See also

• Timeline of December 2009 Iranian election protests

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Iran court upholds death for opposition activist By ALI AKBAR DAREINI (AP) 3 March 2010
2. ^ ^{a b} Mohammad-Amin Valian, iran.elple.net
3. ^ Iran calls political opponents enemies of Islam By BRIAN MURPHY, AP, 9 March 2010
4. ^ US urges Iran to free death-row protester, AFP, 6 March 2010

Persondata
Name	Valian, Mohammad Amin
Alternative names
Short description	Iranian activist sentanced to death
Date of birth	1989
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death