Iranian Jew’s Execution Delayed For A Month, Further Details Revealed

By Yeshiva World News

Iranian Jew Arvin Netanel Ghahremani, 20, was slated to be executed by the Islamic Republic on Monday but Baruch Hashem, his execution has been delayed for a month.

The postponement was announced by Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association.

“Excellent news!” he wrote. “The court system in Kermansha Iran, has granted a temporary reprieve to the wrongly accused Jewish man, postponing his execution by approximately one month. We remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail, leading to his timely release and exoneration.”

Rabbi Margaretten held a meeting on Friday about the case with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at the home of Jewish billionaire and philanthropist Alex Rovt.

A New York Post article revealed further details of the case. Avrin was exercising at a gym in the city of Kermanshah, located 326 miles (525 kilometers) from Tehran in the western part of Iran. when he was ambushed by seven men, including a 40-year-old man who owed him money, said Rabbi Danny Yiftach, who translated Iranian court documents for The Post.

The purported victim, Amir Shokri, pulled out a large knife and stabbed Ghahremani. Arvin fought back in self-defense and fatally stabbed him.

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

Dr. Homayoun Sameyah, the Jewish MP in Iran’s Parliament, has tried to intervene by asking multiple lawmakers to mediate with Shokri’s family, even offering to build a mosque in his name. All his efforts were unsuccessful.

“This morning I spent an hour responding to all the WhatsApp messages I’m receiving about this issue,” Yitach said. “This has gotten everybody very nervous in Iran.”

“I’m confident that if this case would have been in Tehran it wouldn’t have turned out this way because I do believe in the goodwill of the central government,” Yiftach said. “Ever since the revolution Iran has said they’re not against the Jewish people — they’re just anti-Zionist. Now is their chance to prove that.”

Until the last moment, efforts continued via international organizations to prevent the execution. Various parties appealed to several countries to intervene, including Russia and Germany. Additionally, lawyers and officials in Iranian Jewish communities in the US made efforts to try to influence the family of the victim to commute the death sentence and accept financial compensation.

Please continue davening for Arvin Netanel ben Sonia Tziyona.

Do a Mitzvah in the merit of saving his life: Click here.