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URGENT ACTION Iran: Fear of imminent execution/ torture
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/034/2007
22 March 2007
UA 76/07 Fear of imminent execution/ torture
IRAN Sa’id Qanbar Zahi (m), aged 17 ]
Javad Naroui (m) ]
Ma’soud Nosrat Zahi (m) ]
Houshang Shahnavazi (m) ] All members of Iran’s Baluchi minority
Yahya Sohrab Zahi (m) ]
Ali Reza Brahoui (m) ]
Abdalbek Kahra Zahi (also ]
known as Abdalmalek) (m)
The seven people named above, including a boy aged 17, are at risk of
imminent execution. Amnesty International fears that at least five of
the group may have been tortured into "confessing" to involvement in a
number of violent crimes carried out in the town of Tasuki, in
Sistan-Baluchistan province, southern Iran, in March 2006.
Information provided to Amnesty International suggests that the seven
may have been arrested on account of their family ties with those
suspected of having been involved in blowing up a bus carrying security
officials from the Revolutionary Guard on 14 February 2007, in which at
least 14 people were killed.
According to media reports, Ali Reza Brahoui, Yahya Sohrab Zahi, Sa’id
Qanbar Zahi, Houshang Shahnavazi and Ma’soud Nosrat Zahi all made
"confessions" on Iranian state television to a number of crimes
which allegedly took place in Sistan-Baluchistan, including
attacks and carjackings. The televised "confessions" linked
an Iranian Baluchi armed opposition group, Jondallah, also
known as the Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement (Jonbesh-e
Moqavemat-e Mardom-e Iran), to these crimes, and to the attack on
the bus on 14 February. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the five who
"confessed" have been tortured, including by having bones in
their hands and feet broken; by being ‘branded' with a red-hot
iron and by an electric drill applied to their limbs, shredding their
muscles.
According to a BBC report, Iranian state television said that Sa’id
Qanbar Zahi was tried on 11 March 2006. Amnesty International has no
other information concerning the legal proceedings faced by the seven,
but there are concerns that they may have faced summary trials,
and may not have had access to defence lawyers.
Amnesty International recognizes the rights and responsibilities of
governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences,
but opposes the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate cruel,
inhuman and degrading punishment. Moreover, Iran is a state party to
international treaties which prohibit the execution of those under the
age of 18 at the time of their alleged offence.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iran's Baluchi minority lives mainly in the southeast of the country,
and is believed to constitute between one and three percent of the total
population of around 70 million. Mainly Sunni Muslims, they have for
many years complained of discrimination by the Iranian authorities.
Jondallah, or the Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement, has
carried out a number of armed attacks on Iranian officials and has on
occasion killed hostages. It reportedly seeks to defend the rights of
the Baluchi people, though government officials have claimed that it is
involved in drug smuggling and has ties to terrorist groups and to
foreign governments. Amnesty International condemns unequivocally the
killing of hostages and urges Jondallah to desist from this or
similar practices immediately.
According to a BBC report on 15 March, Sistan-Baluchistan television has
stated that at least two people have been hanged in connection
with the attack on the bus carrying Revolutionary Guards. Five days
after it took place, an Iranian Baluchi man, Nasrollah Shanbeh-Zehi, was
executed in connection with the attack. He was shown on Iranian
television "confessing" to the bombing on behalf of Jondallah and
was executed in public at the site of the bombing. It is thought that
the other man allegedly executed in connection with the attack may have
been Ahmad Sariz, allegedly a member of Jondallah, who was
reportedly hanged on 14 March. Reports indicate that at least 17 other
individuals have either been sentenced to death or executed in
connection with an attack in Tasuki in March 2006, in which up to 22
people were reportedly killed. In an interview with the Iranian
newspaper ‘Ayyaran on 17 March, Hossein Ali Shahryari, a
parliamentarian representing the city of Zahedan, stated that prisons in
Sistan-Baluchistan province hold more than 700 people under sentence of
death. In 2006, at least 177 people were executed in Iran,
including at least four women and four people who were under 18 at the
time of the alleged offence. Possibly as many as one-third of these were
members of Iran’s Baluchi minority.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in English, Persian or your own language:
- stating that Amnesty
International recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to
bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences, but opposes the
death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
- calling on the Iranian authorities to commute immediately the death
sentences of these seven individuals (naming them) and of anyone else
facing execution in Iran;
- reminding the authorities of their commitment to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that
"sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons
below eighteen years of age", and calling on the Iranian authorities to
implement the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the
Rights of the Child by immediately stopping the executions of those who
were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offence;
- expressing concern at reports that they may have faced torture, in
contravention of Iran’s own laws and its international obligations;
- expressing concern at reports that the men have been arrested for
being related to those suspected of carrying out armed attacks against
government security officials;
- seeking details of the charges and any trial proceedings that the
individuals named may have faced.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Republic
The Office of the Supreme Leader, Shahid Keshvar Doost Street, Tehran.
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 251 7774 2228 (mark "For the Office of His Excellency,
Ayatollah Khamenei")
Email: Via website, in English:
http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=sendletter
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building, Panzdah-Khordad
Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying; send appeals by post or
email if you cannot get through)
Email:
info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: For the
attention of Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Governor of Sistan and Balochistan province
Mr Dahmarde, Governor
Fax: +98 541 3231990
E-mail: info@sb-ostan.ir
Salutation: Dear Sir
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International
Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 3 May
2007. |
