2 of the people who have been sentenced to death in connection to the post-election protests in Iran, were hanged early this morning.
According to the state run news agency ISNA, the men were identified as Mohammadreza Alizamani (37) and Arash Rahmanpour (19), and both were convicted of disruption of order and Moharebeh (at war with God) through membership in the "Monarchist Association".
The 2 were among 11 people who had been sentenced to death on charges including moharebeh (waging war against God), efforts to overthrow the Islamic establishment and membership of armed groups, said the report.
The executions were the first carried out officially for election-related incidents.
However, there are some reports indicating that some of those sentenced to death in the 1st trials after the election protests, had been arrested several months before the elections.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Spokesperson of Iran Human Rights said: "We strongly condemn this morning's executions and urge the world community to do the same. If the world community does'nt react strongly now, many of those who have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, will soon be facing execution." He added :" Violence and executions are the only ways Mr. Khamenei and the rest of the Iranian regime know of that can save their regime."
Source: Iran Human Rights, January 28, 2010
Sudden and Unannounced Execution of Two Political Prisoners
Nasrin Sotoudeh, attorney of Arash Rahmani Pour, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: "Arash's father spoke to me on the telephone today and he had not been informed of the execution. This shows that not only was the execution carried out in secrecy, but not even the families were informed. The law necessitates the Judiciary to inform the family of a defendant and to allow for due judicial and legal processes to take place in the presence of the defendant and his attorney. All of this was foregone in my clients case and we heard about this in the media after the fact."
Only hours after her client's execution, Sotoudeh told the Campaign: "As Arash Rahmani Pour's attorney, I was shocked to hear of his sudden execution. According to the law, no verdict can be carried out prior to its being served to the defendant. This verdict was issued in secrecy and and it was sent forward in secrecy from those who should have been informed about it, and it was only announced by the judiciary's web site after it had been carried out. Arash's sentence had no reason other than to create fear and intimidation. Despite what has been announced on the Revolutionary Court's web site, Arash was not arrested in the post-elections events. He had been arrested in April, 2 months before the [June 15] elections at his home and at the time of his arrest, he was only 19. Many of the charges made against him pertained to the time when he was not yet 18. To be sure, Arash's case is a juvenile crime execution, only this time a political prisoner was executed because of what he did before he was 18. During his entire arrest, imprisonment, and trial, there was a lot of pressure and many promises. First Arash's sister was arrested. She was in prison for 2 months. She was then acquitted and released, but pressures she had endured during her detention caused her miscarriage. In the only meeting I was allowed to have with Arash for 15 minutes, he told me that during 2 of his interrogation sessions, his sister was brought to the interrogation room and seated opposite him. He was then told that if he wanted to be released he had to confess to the things that he was told. I was Arash's attorney, but I was never allowed to participate in his trial. I insisted to be allowed to attend a trial session in August. Security Officers threatened to arrest me and took away my attorney license, which they returned to me later."
The Tehran Revolutionary and General Courts' web site announced that after "riots and anti-revolutionary actions of recent months, especially Ashura," branches of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Courts have put several individuals on trial and have reached the verdict of death sentence in 11 cases. This report adds: "Sentences of 9 other convicts of recent riots are in appeals courts and should the sentences be finalized, they will be carried out according to policy. Heretics [moharebeh] and attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran and membership in the armed anti-revolutionary group, the Monarchy Society of Iran, and the terrorist group, MKO, are some of the charges against the said individuals."
Sotoudeh added: "In a letter I wrote to Head of Judiciary at the time, I stated that if such pressure is carried out against lawyers, it is hard to fathom what kind of pressure is carried out against the accused. At the same meeting where they kept me from attending the trial session, they asked Arash's father to convince him to stand in front of a camera, and when his father resisted, he was threatened that if he didn't convince his son to confess, he, himself, would be arrested on the spot. Therefore I have one question: if Arash had committed such a serious crime to warrant a death sentence, why was it necessary to put so much pressure on him? Why was there so much pressure to force him to confess to things he hadn't done? For these reasons this sentence was completely illegal and unfair."
Regarding Saeed Mortazavi's role and the need to review all such cases in view of charges made against him in a parliamentary report, she said: "I was allowed to review the case once. I discovered that criminal cause was not established in the file. Arash's indictment had been signed in an irregular process by Mr. Mortazavi who was the Tehran Prosecutor at the time. If Mr. Mortazavi's charges are under review in the Judges' Court
after the report of Parliament's Special Committee, all sentences issued under his indictment must be stopped and reviewed. I use this opportunity to state my concern for other death sentences issued. My clients Reza Khademi and Yaghoub Porkar have both received death sentences. The society has to be alerted. I am concerned that my clients will be executed."
Sotoudeh said: "I think all these sentences were made to create fear and intimidation. After the events on Ashura and the fear they have created in the rulers, they hurriedly made these sentences, encouraging and demanding judges to hand out heavy sentences. They even announced that they were taking a bill to the Parliament to change the laws so that executions could be carried out five days after a sentencing."
Pace of Political Executions Accelerating
The execution of two men charged with crimes in connection with alleged membership in illegal anti-government organizations, and the announcement of death sentences for 9 other persons arrested for protest activities, are part of a growing wave of political executions in the Islamic Republic, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.
Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani (37) and Arash Rahmani Pour (19) were executed on 28 January. According to his indictment (translated by the Campaign here), Zamani's conviction for the capital crime of Mohareb, or "taking up arms against God," was based on his membership in the pro-Royalist group, Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran, and on allegedly meeting in Iraq with United States operatives and receiving money from a source based in the US, all for the purpose of instigating unrest in Iran. According to his lawyer, the other defendant, Arash Rahmani Pour, had been forced to confess to membership in the same group.
"Given the high number of political prisoners and the spike in capital punishment since protests began, the threat of a great number of political executions is acute," according to Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the
Campaign.
Leading Iranian clerics and politicians have repeatedly called for harsh punishments, including the death penalty, for protesters, and for legal measures to expedite executions.
Iranian authorities executed 2 Kurdish men, Ehsan Fattahian and Fasih Yasamani on 11 November 2009 and 6 January 2010, respectively, after trials that did not meet international standards and a failure to present
evidence that linked them to capital crimes. Fattahian's sentence was imposed by an appeals court. Shirin Alam Holi, a female Kurdish activist, was sentenced to death earlier in January. Around 20 other Kurdish political activists have received death sentences.
Neither of the men executed today were involved in the political protests following the disputed June 2009 presidential elections, and the Campaign believes their cases were opportunistically mixed into mass trials of protesters because of their association with highly unpopular insurgent groups.
"It may be assumed that these executions were choreographed both to intimidate Iranian citizens from participating in further demonstrations, and to create a mental opening for the execution of demonstrators," Rhodes said.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, while opposing the death penalty in all cases, deplores the excessive use of the punishment in the Islamic Republic, particularly since the June 2009 protests began. The Campaign calls upon the Iranian Judiciary to institute an immediate moratorium on executions, in line with the United Nations General Assembly moratorium approved in 2007.
Source for both : IranHumanRights, January 28, 2010
2 political prisoners hanged in Iran today
Mullahs judiciary sentences 11 political prisoners to death; Maryam Rajavi: People's courageous uprising will continue until overthrow of the regime despite these barbaric crimes.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described death sentences issued for 11 political prisoners on the bogus charge of "mohareb" (waging war on God) and the hanging of 2 as a new phase in the medieval regime's barbarity. She stressed that this was a clear sign of the regime's weakness and exasperation in face of the nationwide uprising. Resorting to such crimes would only strengthen people's resolve to change the religious dictatorship, she added. The People of Iran and youths in particular will no doubt continue with their courageous uprising until the overthrow of the clerical rule in its entirety and establishment of freedom and democracy in their country, Mrs. Rajavi emphasized.
The 2 political prisoners were hanged today for "organizing protest demonstrations" and having links to "recent riots," although they had been arrested months before the nationwide uprisings that were sparked by the sham elections in June. They had been imprisoned throughout this period.
The mullahs' Deputy Minister of the Intelligence and Security said yesterday, "More than 20 members of the Mojahedin (PMOI) who were involved in organizing riots have been arrested and are charged with moharebeh."
Earlier, the Judiciary's First Deputy had said, "In light of the fact that the movement is an organized movement, anyone who helps it in any way or under any circumstances, would deserve the title of Mohareb." (State-run TV Channel 2, December 30, 2009)
Mrs. Rajavi called on the United Nations Secretary General, UN Security Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and all other relevant international bodies to take urgent measures to prevent killing of political prisoners and those detained during recent uprisings. She reiterated that inaction on the part of the international community toward the bloodthirsty regime would embolden it to continue with killings and atrocities.
She called for the referral of the regime's human rights violations and brutal suppression of the people's uprising to the UN Security Council for the adoption of binding measures including bringing to trial the regime's leaders and those responsible for suppression, killing and torture. Political and economical ties with the regime must be made conditional on full improvement of the human rights situation in Iran, she reiterated, adding that it is the minimum the Iranian people expect from the international community.
Iranian regime executes more in the run up to February uprisings
Hanging of at least 16 prisoners following Ashura uprising on December 27
The mullahs' regime, fearful of heightening of the popular uprising in February and to create an atmosphere of intimidation, once again has increased the number of executions.
In Esfahan, on January 27, Jamshid Hadian, a 51-year-old prisoner was hanged before the bewildered eyes of the people outside the mullahs' revolutionary court. He was accused of killing Ahmad Reza Tavallai, Esfahan's deputy prosecutor, by firearms on March 16, 2009.
In Zahedan, provincial capital of Sistan and Baluchistan, Khodayar Rahmat Zehi Shahnavazi, 35, a Sunni prisoner was hanged after four years of imprisonment. He was arrested in front of his house following an explosion.
In Ardebil, a prisoner was hanged on January 22 after 2 years of imprisonment.
A prisoner in Tabriz indentified as Rahim Mohammadi, was executed on January 20 without notifying his lawyer or his family.
In Khash, Allahnazar Shahli, a 26-year-old man from Baluchistan, was hanged.
Hanging of Ardehsir Keshavarz, a 35-year-old Kurd in Karaj's Gohardasht prison, accused of killing a member of the State Security Force in Kermanshah on December 30, 2009, hanging of 3 prisoners in Khorvin prison of Varamin on January 4, execution of Fasih Yasamani, a 28-year-old Kurdish prisoner after close to 2 years imprisonment in Khoi prison and execution of 6 prisoners in Esfahan Central prison on January 9, are amongst the executions taking place after the people's uprising on holy day of Ashura (December 27).
The mullahs' regime is trying in vain to prevent the continuation of the brave uprising of the Iranian people and youths who have targeted the regime in its entirety by chanting "Down with Khamenei" and "down with the principle of velayat-e faqih (supreme leadership)."
Source for both: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Number of Kurdish Political Prisoners Sentenced to Die Reaches 21
A campaign to defend the political and civil rights of prisoners announced that Aziz Mohammadzadeh, another Kurdish political activist, has been sentenced to death. According to a report prepared by this campaign, Mr. Mohammadzadeh was accused of attempts against national security and Moharebeh (waging war), and his sentencing was issued by the court in the city of Saghez.
Mr. Mohammadzadeh is the son of Ali and he is 26 years old. Mr. Mohammadzadeh is a resident of the city of Baneh who was detained by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence on October 13, 2009, in this city; he was taken to a detention center managed by the Intelligence Ministry. For three months, Mr. Mohammadzadeh was subjected to mistreatment inside the detention center before he was transferred to Saghez Prison.
Readers are reminded that at the present time Mr. Mohammadzadeh is being held in solitary confinement inside the jail, and his health is reported to be poor.
Last week, two other Kurdish activists, Mohammad-Amin Abdullahi and Ghader Mohammadzadeh, from the village of Mirvabad, in the vicinity of the city of Bukan, were sentenced to death by the appeals court in the city of Oromieh.
Including the death sentences of these 3 activists, the number of political and civil rights activists sentenced to death now stands at 21. The identities, holding prison and form of execution of the other 18 prisoners condemned to die are as follows:
1. Zaynab Jalalian, resident of Maku, Kermanshah Prison, hanging
2. Shirko Moaarefi, resident of Baneh, Saghez Prison, hanging
3. Habib Latifi, resident of Sanandaj, Sanandaj Prison, hanging
4. Sami Hosseini, resident of Salmas, Oromiah Prison, hanging
5. Jamal Mohammadi, resident of Salmas, Oromiah Prison, hanging
6. Rostam Arkia, hanging
7. Rashid Akhkandi, hanging
8. Hossein Khazri, resident of Oromieh, Oromiah Prison, hanging
9. Farzad Kamangar, resident of Kamyaran, Tehran Evin Prison, hanging
10. Ali Haydarian, resident of Sanandaj, Tehran Evin Prison, hanging
11. Farhad Vakili, resident of Sanandaj, Tehran Evin Prison, hanging
12. Mostafa Salimi, resident of Saghez, Saghez Prison, hanging
13. Anvar Rostami, hanging
14. Iraj Mohammdi, resident of Miandoab, Oromieh Prison, firing squad
15. Mohammad-Amin Agoshi, resident of Pianshahr, Oromieh Prison, firing
squad
16. Ahmad Poladkhani, resident of Piranshahr, Oromieh Prison, firing squad
17. Hasan Talei, resident of Maku, hanging
18. Shirin Alam Houei, resident of Maku, Evin Prison, hanging
Source: Iran Human Rights Voice, January 2010
White House condemns Iran executions
The White House is condemning Iran for executing two men accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group.
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton says the executions represent a new low in Iran's crackdown on peaceful dissent and will further isolate Tehran.
The executions mark an escalation in the Iranian government's crackdown on its opponents following last year's disputed presidential election.
The 2 men who were hanged on Thursday were arrested before the election and did not appear to be protests after the vote. But they were put before the same mass trial as opposition leaders and activists arrested amid the crackdown.
Source: Associated Press, January 28, 2010
The Injustice of Today's Executions in Iran
Arash Rahmanipour, 1 of the 2 victims executed today, was only 19 years old. He was arrested in March/April 2009 2 months before the fraudulent elections in June which has led to protests throughout Iran since. Yet today the junta administrations prosecutor, inconsistent as ever like bad liars always are, said Arash Rahmanipour was executed for his role in the Ashura protests. Presumably the 19 year old Arash was directing the Ashura protests from his cell while he was being interrogated!
What Arash was accused of, contacts with a terrorist group outside Iran, was supposed to have happened when Arash was a minor and under 18 years old. Even under Islamic Republic penal code, the punishment for contacts with terrorist groups is not death but prison sentence.
Arash was arrested along with his family members. His pregnant sister was also arrested and was frequently put in the same room with Arash when he was being interrogated. His father was also threatened that if he did not persuade his son to sign the confessions, he too would be arrested. Arash's father was also misled to think if Arash does sign the confessions all family members would be released.
Even though Arash's charges were nothing to do with the post-election protests, he was bundled in with the rest of the accused in the mass show trials that make Stalin look like Mother Theresa. In his televised recants it seemed obvious that Arash was reading from a text. He may have even given a clue within the narrow margins he had, when he referred to London as the 'country of London'.
His lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has exposed much of the above points said she was given 15 minutes only to meet her client and review his file, where she saw no evidence of any of the charges made against him. She was not even allowed to be present during Arash's show trial. The judiciary process for the appeal had not yet come to an end and Arash's family were never notified about the execution. They first heard about the execution of their loved one on the news.
5 Human Rights Groups Launch Worldwide "346 NO EXECUTIONS' CAMPAIGN"
Today, 5 human rights advocacy groups in 5 Western nations announced the official launching of the 346 No Executions campaign, a coordinated worldwide effort to inspire at least 346 citizens in each member nation to submit letters of petition to their respective foreign ministries, specifically requesting that diplomatic pressure be applied to the government of Iran to abolish its death penalty. The Iranian regime routinely carries out government-sanctioned executions in arbitrary, capricious and inhumane fashion to homosexuals, women, young girls, religious minorities, minors and now Green protesters, all of which are in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Iran is a signatory.
The 5 participating groups in the 346 No Executions campaign to date are: The Iranian Homosexual Human Rights Councils (Canada, United States), OutRage! (United Kingdom), The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (Germany) and the Everyone Group (Italy). The participants hope to recruit more human rights groups in other countries to the campaign as word spreads. '346' is derived from the official figure of executions carried out in Iran in 2008, according to the latest Amnesty International report.
Mr. Arsham Parsi, who represents the campaign as communications director of the Iranian Homosexual Human Rights Councils, recently stated that AI's official figure of 346 does not accurately reflect the actual number of executions carried out annually by the Iranian regime:
"346 is a conservative estimate," Mr. Parsi stated in a recent interview. "The unofficial number is likely much higher. Iran must stop taking innocent lives in such cavalier, arbitrary and brutal ways. Our campaigns mission is to petition member governments to apply diplomatic pressure on Iran to cease and desist with these barbaric and unjust executions.
"It is the express goal of the 346 No Executions campaign to bring these arbitrary executions in Iran to an end. We seek to do this through letters of petition and by expanding the campaign to other nations, particularly in the European Union. Many EU member states conduct a great deal of commercial trade with Iran, yet the EU is also signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dichotomy between principles and actions represents a clear conflict of interest in the EU vis-a-vis trade with Iran and the fundamental human rights EU member nations swore to uphold in the Universal Declaration.
"It is our hope that these letters of petition will compel as many governments as possible to address the situation in Iran, and will as a result apply diplomatic pressure on the regime to uphold its own legal, moral and human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration. We also hope that by increasing awareness of this intolerable situation in Iran to concerned citizens and human rights advocacy groups around the globe, that even more governments will pressure Iran. There is great strength in numbers."
If you are a member of a human rights organization or NGO and would like launch your own 346 No Executions campaign in your country, we will gladly assist you. Please contact Mr. Arsham Parsi direct at
info@noexecutions.com. Thank You.
346 No Execution Campaign
Source for both: planet-iran, January 2010
'Shocking' execution of Iran protesters condemned
At least 9 other people are on death row following post-election unrest
Amnesty International has condemned the execution of 2 men arrested during protests that followed Iran's disputed presidential election last year.
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged on Thursday after being convicted in unfair trials of "enmity against God" and being members of Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran (API), a banned group which advocates the restoration of an Iranian monarchy.
They are the 1st executions known to be related to the post-election violence that erupted across Iran in June and has continued since.
"These shocking executions show that the Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out the peaceful protests that persist since the election," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.
"These men were first unfairly convicted and now they have been unjustly killed it is not even clear they had links to this group as their 'confessions' appear to have been made under duress."
According to the Iranian authorities, at least nine other people are currently on death row in Iran after being sentenced to death in similar post-election 'show trials'.
"Our fear is that these executions are just the beginning of a wave of executions of those tried on similar vaguely worded charges," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were convicted of enmity against God by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in October. They were also convicted of "propaganda against the system", "insulting the holy sanctities" and "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national internal security".
Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani was accused of illegally visiting Iraq where he was alleged to have met US military officials.
Arash Rahmanipour's lawyer says he played no role in the election protests and was forced to confess in a "show trial" after members of his family were threatened.
The 2 men's lawyers were not informed of their clients' executions, as is required by Iranian law.
"These executions highlight how the justice system is used as an instrument of repression by the authorities. They are sending a warning to those who may wish to exercise their right to peacefully demonstrate against the government, not to go out in the street, said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Further anti-government demonstrations are widely expected to take place on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on 11 February.
According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International believes the number to be much higher. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.
Scores have been sentenced to prison terms, and in some cases flogging, after unfair trials, and at least 11 have been sentenced to death. 1 man Hamed Rouhinejad - has had his death sentence commuted on appeal in January 2010.
Source: Amnesty International, January 2010
The 41-year-old Hadfield woman, Bernadette Denny, was taken into charge with her 57-year-old partner Mario Schembri on Thursday and then charged delayed previous night. Neighbors said the mother of two became remote following her new relationship began on six months ago. Denny's father the past described his offspring as "a good girl".
