The 30-year-old Iranian cousin of a Sydney man has been sentenced to death in Tehran, prompting a broad array of Australian politicians to join an international campaign trying to save his life.
This last-ditch effort comes as Coalition, Greens and teal MPs unite to demand tougher sanctions on Iran after this masthead revealed the mother of a leading Iranian-Australian protester has been jailed in Tehran and interrogated about Australian relatives.
Iran sentenced Majid Kazemi to death on January 9, alleging he was involved in killing three government militia members during one of the protests that erupted after student Mahsa Amini died in police custody last September.
Kazemi told family members he was tortured into giving a false confession, a practice rights agencies said was common.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the academic who spent years imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges, said she recently attended an online meeting with Kazemi’s Sydney-based cousin, advisers to Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Labor MP Josh Burns.
“We basically reached out to their office and asked if they would support Majid, given his links to Australia, by expressing concern about his welfare through diplomatic channels. They were certainly interested in assisting,” Moore-Gilbert said.
She said Kazemi had been moved to solitary confinement, which she explained was often a precursor to being executed.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald.