URGENT ACTION APPEAL for Sherko Moarefi, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, at imminent risk of execution in Iran

Sherko Moarefi, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, was not executed on 1 May, as had been widely expected.  However, his sentence has now been sent for implementation, the final stage of the process, and he could be executed at any time. 

Sherko Moarefi had been informally told by prison officials that he would be executed on 1 May 2011, but  never received official confirmation of this. He went on hunger strike on 28 April 2011 to protest his  "unknown and unspecific" legal circumstances, though he has since ended his hunger strike. On 27 April 2011, Sherko Moarefi's file was sent it to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences (OIS) in Saqqez, in the north-western province of Kordestan after Branch 27 of the Supreme Court had upheld Sherko Moarefi's death sentence for a second time. His lawyer has said that steps have been taken to bring procedural irregularities to the attention of the court, but that as the case has passed to the OIS, the sentence could be implemented at any time. 

Sherko Moarefi was arrested in October 2008 in the village of Dowlat Ghaleh near Saqqez, after which he was sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court. Amnesty International has for many years raised concerns about the fairness of trials before Revolutionary Courts in Iran. Sherko Moarefi was sentenced to death for "acting against national security" and "enmity against God" for his alleged links to Komala, a banned Kurdish opposition group. The sentence was upheld on appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court. 

Another Kurdish political prisoner, Habibollah Latifi, remains at risk of execution after his execution scheduled for 26 December 2010 was called off at the last minute after domestic and international pressure (see UA 271/09, and follow ups). He is an industrial engineering student at Ilam University in western Iran convicted of membership of and alleged activities on behalf of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), another proscribed armed group. At least 14 other Kurdish political prisoners are known to be on death row. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

Sherko Moarefi's death sentence was upheld first by an Appeal Court and then by the Supreme Court. His court-appointed lawyer stated in an interview on 18 October 2009 that his request to the Amnesty and Clemency Commission had been rejected and that he had applied for a judicial review. This, too, was denied. Sherko Moarefi was told verbally in March that his execution was scheduled for 1 May, but his lawyers were never officially informed. Under Iranian law lawyers must be notified 48 hours prior to the implementation of the death penalty for a client. He went on hunger strike on 28 April 2011 to protest his "unknown and unspecific" legal circumstances, though he has since ended his hunger strike. His family was able to visit him on 3 May 2011. 

Kurds, who are one of Iran's many minority groups, live mainly in the west and north-west of the country, in the province of Kordestan and neighbouring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. They experience discrimination in the enjoyment of their religious, economic and cultural rights (see: Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority, 30 July 2008 at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/088/2008/en ). For many years, Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Marxist group Komala conducted armed struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran, although neither currently does so. An alleged member of the KDPI, Farhad Tarom, was reported by Kurdish sources to have been executed in February 2011. A further group, the Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), was formed in 2004, and carried out armed attacks against Iranian security forces, but declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2009, although it still engages in armed clashes with security forces in what it terms "self-defence". Hossein Khezri, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, is feared to have been executed on 15 January 2011 in north-western Iran after being convicted of "enmity against God" on account of his membership of PJAK. The authorities announced that a PJAK member was executed on 15 January 2011 but did not name the individual. On 16 January 2011, PJAK issued a statement pledging an "appropriate response" to what they clearly believe to have been Hossein Khezri's execution and calling for a week of "resistance" to Iran. 

Amnesty International condemns without reservation attacks on civilians, which includes judges, clerics, and locally or nationally-elected officials, as attacking civilians violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. These principles prohibit absolutely attacks on civilians as well as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Such attacks cannot be justified under any circumstances. 

The scope of capital crimes in Iran is broad. The death penalty is one of four possible punishments for those convicted of moharebeh, a charge often brought against those accused of armed opposition to the state. Other capital crimes include other national security offenses such as espionage. At least 13 other Kurdish men and one Kurdish woman are believed to be on death row in connection with their alleged membership of and activities for proscribed Kurdish organizations. They are Sami Hosseini, Jamal Mohammadi, Rashid Akhkandi, Rostam Arkia, Anvar Rostami, Mostafa Salimi, Mohammad Amin Abdollahi, Ghader (or Aziz) Mohammadzadeh, Hassan Talai, Habibollah Golparipour, Abdollah Sorouri, Loghman (or Loqman) Moradi, Zaniar Moradi (who was only 17 when arrested) and Zeynab Jalalian. Some have had initial prison sentences increased to death sentences. Ehsan Fattahian, a member of Komala, was executed on 11 November 2009 in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan province. 

December 2010 and January 2011 saw an alarming rise in the rate of executions, mainly of individuals convicted of offenses related to trafficking and possession of illegal drugs, although the rate has since declined. Additionally, since the start of 2011, up to 18 men have been hanged in public, compared to 14 such executions recorded by Amnesty International in the whole of 2010. Thirteen of those executions have taken place since 16 April 2011. On 20 April 2011, two juvenile offenders -- identified only as "A.N" and "H.B" - 

were among three individuals hanged in public in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, after being convicted over a rape and murder committed when they were only 17. A fourth man was hanged at the same time for rape. A 16-year-old member of the Ahwazi Arab minority was reportedly hanged in Khuzestan province between 5 and 7 May 2011 in the wake of clashes between Arabs and security forces on 15 April 2011. 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: 

- Urging the Iranian authorities not to carry out the execution of Sherko Moarefi and to grant a judicial review; 

- Calling on them to commute the death sentences of Sherko Moarefi, Habibollah Latifi and anyone else on death row, including other Kurdish political prisoners; 

- Stating that Amnesty International recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice, in conformity with international standards for fair trial, those suspected of criminal offenses, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. 

APPEALS TO: 

Leader of the Islamic Republic 

Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei 

The Office of the Supreme Leader 

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street 

Tehran 

IRAN 

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English) 

Twitter: @khamenei_ir 

(please add #Iran in the body of the message which cannot exceed 140 characters, including spaces and 

punctuation) 

Salutation: Your Excellency 

Head of the Judiciary 

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani 

[care of] Public relations Office 

Number 4, 2 Azizi Street 

Vali Asr Ave., above Pasteur Street intersection 

Tehran 

IRAN 

Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com

(In subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani) 

Salutation: Your Excellency 

COPIES TO: 

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights 

Mohammad Javad Larijani 

High Council for Human Rights 

[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary 

Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri, 

Tehran 1316814737 

IRAN 

Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir (subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani) 

Salutation: Dear Sir 

Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to: 

Iranian Interests Section 

2209 Wisconsin Ave NW 

Washington DC 20007 

Phone: 202 965 4990 

Fax: 202 965 1073 

Email: requests@daftar.org

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

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Mass executions continue in Iran

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on February 4th said: “We have urged Iran, time and again, to halt executions. I am very dismayed that instead of heeding our calls, the Iranian authorities appear to have stepped up the use of the death penalty. (1)"

This was 33 days ago. Since then, recently, Iran executed a 16 years old child and his friend accused of murder. Iran today is the only country in the world that still executes minors (2). Iran is the leading country in the world in executing people per capita. In the name of rape, drug related charges, pornography, enemy of God and multiple other accusations. Iran has since the beginning 2011 executed over 231 people (3). What is as alarming in this spree of executions is that the execution of Kurdish activists, without fair trials and following torture, increasingly appears as a systematic, politically motivated process. (4)

The Kurds, who make up approximately 7 to 12% of Iran’s total population, are greatly deprived of cultural and linguistic rights. Within the governmental institutions in the Kurdish-populated areas, or any other institutions, the Kurdish language is prohibited. Unemployment in the Kurdish regions remains among the highest across Iran and the region is among the least developed. Activists who spread awareness of the problems and concerns are often met with extreme punishment, and have in many cases, become victims like Mr. Farhad Tarom, Mr. Hossein Khezri, Mr. Farzad Kamanger, Ms. Shirin Alam Hooli, Mr. Ali Heydarian, Mr. Farhad Vakili, and many others who have been executed.

(1) http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/03/iran.executions/

(2) http://hra-news.org/1389-01-28-00-30-11/7214-1.html

(3) http://www.freedomessenger.com/?p=23581

(4) http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/03/iran.executions/

Related video (YouTube): Iran, January 2011

Source: Kurdishrights.com, March 10, 2011

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2 hanged in Iranian Kurdistan

2 people were hanged in the prison of Sanandaj, the capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province.

According to the official site of the Iranian judiciary in Kurdistan, 2 people identified as "M. H." and "Kh. R." who were convicted of drug trafficking, were hanged in the central prison of Sanandaj early this morning.

No independent sources have confirmed the charges.

Source: Iran Human Rights, February 16, 2011
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Concern over the growing wave of executions in Iran

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) condemns the execution of Mr. Jafar Kazemi and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii, both convicted of Moharebeh "enmity against God", which carries the death penalty, for their participation in post-election protests and membership in the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). OMCT is also gravely concerned about the risk of imminent execution of Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam and his son, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan, who were as well found guilty of Moharebeh for alleged links to the PMOI. OMCT calls upon the Iranian Judiciary to immediately suspend the execution sentence of the above mentioned individuals as well as halt all executions in Iran. 

According to the information received, Mr. Jafar Kazemi, 47 years old, and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii, 52 yeas old, were hanged, on 24 January 2011, in Evin prison, Tehran, without their family or lawyers being notified. They had been arrested in September and December 2009 respectively based on visits they had made to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where approximately 3’400 members of the PMOI live in exile, including Mr. Jafar Kazemi's son. 

Mr. Jafar Kazemi and Mr. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaii were reportedly held more than a year in solitary confinement before their execution. Mr. Jafar Kazemi is also reported to have suffered torture with the purpose of extracting a confession but he consistently denied any illegal activity. Neither of these men received a fair trial. They were sentenced to death in April 2010 and their appeals were later rejected by the Supreme Court. 

Given these executions, OMCT is gravely concerned that Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan will be executed imminently. 

Since the beginning of the year, it is reported that at least 70 executions were carried out in Iran. OMCT reaffirms its strong opposition to the death penalty as an extreme form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. OMCT calls upon the Iranian judicial authorities to immediately halt the execution of Mr. Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mr. Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, Mr. Javad Lari and Ms. Farah Vazehan. More generally, OMCT calls on the Iranian authorities to stop all executions. 

At a time when momentum is gathering across the world to end capital punishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran defies international human rights law by increasing the number of executions under conditions that blatantly violate international human rights standards. 

OMCT also recalls that Iran is legally bound to effectively ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all persons deprived of liberty in accordance with international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Iran. 

Ssource: OMCT--World Organization Against Torture, January 27, 2011

Iran: Deepening Crisis on Rights - Huge Spike in Executions; Lawyers Targeted for Championing Freedoms 

The Iranian government's high rate of executions and targeting of rights defenders, particularly lawyers, in 2010 and early 2011 highlights a deepening of the human rights crisis that gripped the country following the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said in issuing its World Report 2011 Iran chapter. According to Iranian media reports, authorities have executed at least 73 prisoners - an average of almost three prisoners per day - since January 1, 2011. 

The 649-page report, the organization's 21st annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights issues in more than 90 countries worldwide. In Iran, since November 2009 authorities have executed at least 13 people on the vague charge of moharebeh, or "enmity against God," following flawed trials in revolutionary courts. The government also harassed, arrested, detained, and convicted several lawyers in 2010 for their work defending the rights of others. At the same time, scores of civil society activists have spoken out against the government crackdown despite facing harsh consequences. 

"The noose has tightened, in some cases literally, around the necks of activists in Iran," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's crackdown has gone beyond silencing post-election demonstrators and is now a broad-based campaign to neutralize Iran's vibrant civil society and consolidate power." 

The executions and mounting pressures against lawyers took place amid a broad crackdown following the election, and resulted in the killing of dozens of demonstrators by security forces and the detention of thousands of political opposition members and civil society activists. In early 2010 security forces announced that they had arrested more than 6,000 people in the months following the June 12, 2009 election. Those arrested included demonstrators, lawyers, rights defenders, journalists, students, and opposition leaders, some of whom remain in prison without charge. Iran's revolutionary courts have issued harsh sentences, in some cases based on forced confessions, against dozens convicted of various national security-related crimes. 

There were a number of attacks by armed groups against civilians in 2010. 3 such attacks during the second half of the year led to the deaths of at least 75 civilians. Iran has used these attacks to justify the execution of anyone convicted of moharebeh, despite evidence indicating that the revolutionary court trials of those charged with this crime did not meet fundamental international fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said. Iran's Judiciary operated with little - if any - transparency regarding evidence proving that those sentenced to death were in fact linked to armed attacks. 

During the early morning hours of January 24, 2011, Evin prison authorities hanged Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj-Aghai for the crime of moharebeh because of their alleged ties to the banned Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK). Prosecutors had accused the two of sending images of the protests to foreign contacts following the disputed June 2009 presidential election, and shouting anti-government slogans. Prosecutors also used a visit by Kazemi to see his son at an MEK camp in Iraq as proof of his membership in the organization, and alleged that Haj-Aghai had visited the same camp several times. During several interviews with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Kazemi's wife informed the group that interrogators had tortured her husband and kept him in solitary confinement for more than two months after his September 2009 arrest in order to force him to confess to the charges, but that he had refused to do so. Authorities failed to notify the prisoners' family members or lawyers prior to executing them. 

Ali Saremi, a 62-year-old who admittedly sympathized with the ideological and political aspirations of the MEK, was convicted as a member of the group following a flawed trial and hanged in Tehran's Evin prison on December 28, 2010. During his trial, prosecutors pointed to Saremi's 2007 speech at a ceremony at Khavaran cemetery in Tehran commemorating the 1988 execution of thousands of prisoners, many of them MEK members, as evidence of his guilt. As in Kazemi's case, prosecutors used a visit by Saremi in 2007 to a MEK camp in Iraq as proof of his membership in the organization. Saremi denied that he was a member, and the prosecution failed to provide any substantive evidence suggesting that he advocated violence or was involved with the group's operations, Human Rights Watch said. Like Kazemi and Haj-Aghai, Evin prison authorities executed Saremi without providing the notice to his lawyer or his family members that is required by law. 

Saremi was one of a handful of individuals arrested before the disputed June 2009 election on charges of supporting an armed terrorist group who was tried and sentenced to death during the wave of post-election convictions of demonstrators and individuals allegedly involved in what the government refers to as a "coup attempt." Others convicted after the June 2009 election and currently on death row for allegedly supporting the MEK include Mohsen and Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Abdolreza Ghanbari. 

In another case, a revolutionary court had sentenced Habibollah Latifi to death for his alleged links with an armed Kurdish opposition group. On December 24 authorities in Sanandaj prison delayed Latifi's execution, which was to take place 2 days later, pending further judicial review of his case. 

Less than two weeks earlier, authorities had hanged 11 men also convicted of moharebeh for their alleged links to the banned People's Resistance Movement of Iran, also known as Jondollah. Little is known about the men's trials and subsequent convictions. The men were executed after a suicide bomber killed at least 39 people in Chabahar in southeastern Iran. The People's Resistance Movement, which claims to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran, had claimed responsibility for the attack. It is not clear whether those executed were arrested after the Chabahar attack or were already in prison. 

The 2010-2011 wave of executions of individuals charged with moharebeh due to their alleged involvement in armed groups began on January 28, 2010, when authorities hanged Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour without providing any notice to their lawyers and family members. As with Saremi, the government had arrested both men prior to the June 2009 presidential election, but tried them as part of the August 2009 mass trials of election protesters, during which they confessed, on state television, to planning a deadly 2008 bombing in the southwest city of Shiraz on behalf of a banned pro-monarchist group. 

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Rahmanipour's lawyer, who is herself now serving a long prison sentence on morality and national security charges, told foreign Persian-language media that authorities allowed her to meet Rahmanipour only once before the trial, for 15 minutes. Sotoudeh, who was ultimately barred from representing her client during his trial, identified numerous other irregularities, including evidence of a forced confession. 

On May 9 authorities executed 5 prisoners, 4 of them ethnic Kurds charged with having ties to an armed Kurdish group. Authorities failed to notify their lawyers in advance and prevented delivery of the bodies to the families for burial. Human Rights Watch documented numerous trial irregularities in these cases, including viable allegations of torture, forced confessions, and lack of adequate access to a lawyer. 

On January 15, 2011, Iranian rights groups reported that authorities had executed Hossein Khezri, one of 16 Kurds then on death row following a revolutionary court conviction for moharebeh. State-controlled media announced that day that prison authorities in West Azerbaijan province had hanged a member of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group, but did not reveal the person's identity. In early 2010 Mohammad Olyaeifard, Khezri's lawyer, who is currently serving a one-year prison sentence for speaking out against the execution of another of his clients, indicated that although Khezri had admitted to joining PJAK militants in Iraq when he was younger, he had been tortured by his interrogators to confess to taking part in a violent attack on behalf of the armed group despite the fact that he had never participated in the group's military wing. 

There has also been an alarming rise in the frequency of executions for crimes other than moharebeh in recent months. On January 16, 2011, The International Campaign on Human Rights in Iran reported that Iran had hanged at least 47 prisoners, "or an average of about one person every eight hours," since the beginning of 2011, most on charges of alleged drug possession and trafficking. Citizens of foreign countries are also affected by these executions, including Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch dual citizen currently on death row after being convicted on drug charges. The Campaign also reported that between December 20 and January 1, 2011, authorities executed 43 prisoners. These incidents follow several reports by the Campaign in late 2010 indicating that authorities at Vakilabad prison in the northeast city of Mashhad executed hundreds of prisoners, most of them on drug possession and trafficking charges. 

In 2009, the last year for which statistics are available, Iran executed at least 388 people and was 2nd only to China in the number of executions, according to Amnesty International. Although figures are not yet available for 2010, human rights groups believe that a sharp rise in the number of reported executions during the 2nd half of the year, particularly of individuals charged with drug offenses, pushes the number of executions for this year well beyond 388. 

"Authorities have shown absolutely no regard for human life, whether on the streets of Iranian cities after the disputed June 2009 election or behind the walls of its prisons," Whitson said. "At the current rate authorities will easily have executed more than 1000 prisoners before 2011 draws to a close." 

In light of the serious concerns regarding the Iranian judiciary's ability to provide fair trials, especially for individuals charged with crimes carrying the death penalty, Human Rights Watch renewed its call for the Iranian government to issue an immediate moratorium on executions. 

The arrests and harassment of lawyers during 2010 appeared to be an effort to intimidate and prevent them from effectively representing political detainees, Human Rights Watch said. Sotoudeh, who has represented numerous people charged with serious national security crimes, was sentenced on January 9, 2011, by Branch 26 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, to 11 years in prison and a 20-year ban on practicing law and traveling outside the country. She was convicted of "acting against the national security," "propaganda against the regime," and failure to observe the Islamic dress code during a taped message she had sent to the International Committee on Human Rights in 2008. The committee, an Italian nongovernmental organization, had awarded Sotoudeh its Human Rights Prize. Since her arrest in September 2010, prison authorities have held Sotoudeh in solitary confinement for months at a time. 

High-level Iranian officials have denied accusations that Sotoudeh was arrested for her activities as a lawyer. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Head of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary, recently said that Sotoudeh had engaged "in a very nasty campaign" against the government, referring to several interviews with her by foreign Persian-language media outlets in which she spoke in defense of her clients. On January 20, Sadegh Larijani, the Head of the Judiciary, repeated the government's warning that lawyers should refrain from giving interviews that damage the government's reputation. 

In mid-January, authorities arrested Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh's husband, who had provided information to media outlets and rights groups regarding his wife's condition since her arrest in September. 

Officials similarly harassed, summoned, arrested, or sentenced other prominent lawyers and their families in 2010. Mohammad Mostafaei fled Iran after authorities repeatedly summoned him for questioning and instead detained his wife, father-in-law, and brother-in-law when they could not locate him. Mostafaei had represented high-profile defendants such as Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning, and numerous juvenile detainees on death row. Another one of Ashtiani's lawyers, Houtan Kian, is also in prison. In October, a revolutionary court sentenced Mohammad Seifzadeh, a colleague of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and co-founder of the banned Center for Defenders of Human Rights, to 9 years in prison and banned him from practicing law for 10 years. 

"Despite the huge personal and professional risks involved, Iran's lawyers continue to defend the rights of their clients while highlighting the judiciary's systematic denial of due process rights," Whitson said. "The international community, especially countries with whom Iran has close relations, should demand that the government stop targeting its rights defenders." 

Source: Human Rights Watch, January 27, 2011

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