Bulletin of the International Committee against Executions

Bulletin of the International Committee against Executions
January 2010
Editor: Farshad Husseini

Warning to the people around the world

Islamic Republic of Iran is preparing for a series of executions. We need to move the world against all these political executions. The court session of seven protesters is beginning in Tehran. Before the start of the session, Iran’s media have started the threat and menace against these protesters’lives. Islamic Republic of Iran is relying on an old and familiar way to threat and silent people by intentionally taking people’s life.

The head of the Iran’s dictatorship have started their ruling by killing and more bloodshed; that’s how they came to the power. The regime is talking about going back to their old style of inhuman, short sessions of desert courts. The head of judiciary system of Iran has confirmed that they are considering the execution of those barbarian ways of their minute’s court sessions all over again. This means that they are preparing people to wildness the executions in public. The Assembly of Experts’ members (Khobregan) , Mullahs of Friday prays, the Executive branch of Islamic Republic and the head of Judiciary system; are all pro destroying those who are fighting the system and those who disrespected Ashoura and God. The existence of the foundation of Islamic regime is shaken; therefore, they are requiring more bloodshed. Millions of people in Iran are protesting against all those defeating, brutality, lack of freedom and plundering in Iran. The experts are expecting a major reform or a revolution in Iran.

To protect their stolen asset, reach Ayatolahs and other leaders in Iran, are willing to kill the people that are opposing them. We have to be prepared. As soon as the Islamic republic of Iran pronounced the new list of people to be executed, we must voice our hate and objection toward these raucous decisions. The International Committee Against Executions is inviting people all over the world to protest and show their hate and objection to the injustice and inhumanity in Iran by gathering by federal buildings , calling for meetings everywhere, such as in Canada, US and in European union.

We should be united and rise against the execution of young people in Iran. This is our duty to be committed and try our best to stop these brutal verdicts. We can expose Iran’s regime to the world and not let the young Iranian people to be killed by a bunch of slayers. We are a strong front barrier, fighting the Islamic regime.

The International Committee Against Executions

Iran: Detained Protesters Threatened with Execution

In apparently coordinated messages, pro-government clerics have publicly called for detained protesters to be executed, placing intense political pressure on the Islamic Republic's supposedly-independent judiciary to act as judicial authorities did in the early days of the Revolution, and attempting to intimidate Iranians from demonstrating for their rights.

The ayatollahs were quoted, from speeches during pro-government demonstrations and during Friday Prayers, by Fars News Agency.

"We are deeply concerned that, while inappropriate political pressure is being placed on judicial authorities, government propaganda is preparing the population for executions," said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign.

"It appears the Iranian leaders have failed to learn that state-sponsored violence will not end the protests and will only exacerbate them. After six months of protests, such executions will only cause more instability and popular outrage," he added.

Ayatollah Alamolhoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts, warned citizens who had demonstrated their opposition to the government's restrictions on civil rights that they would be considered Mohareb, or enemies of God, if they did not give up their opposition. Mohareb is a crime punishable by death in the Islamic Republic. Alamolhoda implored the demonstrators to "come back to the side of the Supreme Leader," otherwise they would "regret the punishments" waiting for them.

During Friday Prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Janati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, addressed the protesters as follows: "These people obviously are Mofsed felarz [one who denies the Prophet and spreads debauchery] and immediately after Revolution such people were punished..."

He added, "People expect the Judiciary to do more, however, we are aware of the Judiciary's restrictions and know that they are not able to act the same as they did in the courts after Revolution. If they had acted same as that time the recent rebellion would have been over much earlier." Janati addressed the Judiciary and said, "Detain those who should be arrested, don't release them after several days in order to continue chaos. These people won't be led to the right path." He added, "The Intelligence and Information institutions should do their task and if these people dare again to disrespect and insult [sacred] values in the street they should not be secure and should be arrested and tried immediately. Also, for their trial, judges should proceed as rapidly as those in 1979."

Ayatollah Sayed Yousef Tabataienejad, during Friday Prayers in Isfahan, also addressed the Judiciary and stated: "The disruptive group fought with God by coming onto the streets...they are Mofsed felarz and the Judiciary should know that their actions are obvious debauchery and according to God and the Koran the punishment is execution."

Ayatollah Haj Sheikh Asadolah Imani, a member of the Assembly of Experts, in the Friday Prayers in Shiraz, said, "Anarchists should know that if they cause anarchy or contribute in it, they are Mohareb and Mortad, and the Judiciary should punish them properly."

According to the official news agency ILNA, the trial of seven defendants, who are accused of insulting the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, will be held on 3-5 January. No information about the defendants' identity was provided.

According to the public information bureau of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office in Tehran, the files of these defendants had been completed and sent to the court. Based on this report, some cases of those detained during and following the Ashura protests would soon be sent to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, following completion of the investigations. Several pro-government websites have reported that "imminent executions" will be soon carried out.

The Campaign strongly condemns the criminalization of dissent by the Iranian authorities and calls for the release of over 1500 people who have been arrested during the past few weeks.

Iranian Cleric Haeri Shirazi: Don't Arrest The Protesters; Kill Them! In a candid and shocking appearance on Iran's state television, a leading Iranian cleric ayatollah stated that instead or arresting and suppressing the opposition protesters, it would be better to kill them. "The more of them are killed, the more beneficial. If the armed forces kill some of them, it is to our benefit." Ayatollah Mehyaddin Haeri Shirazi said.

Haeri Shirazi talked about how the protest movement by the leftist in the early years of the Islamic Republic was effectively crushed by the authorities: "[the government] arrested them in the afternoon and the same night announced the names of 30 people killed or executed by the government forces. Nothing happened. Why? Because they killed them."

Haeri Shirazi stated the arrests as bad for public opinion: "When they are arrested, it is bad; when they are captured, it is bad. Do not make victims out of them." He rather insisted that killing the opposition protesters "is sanctioned by obedience to Allah and the prophet and is handed down to the Supreme Leader. When it is sanctioned by such a power, there is no need to go through the government powers."

Haeri Shirazi warned the opposition forces not to underestimate the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: "Do not look upon the Supreme Leader as a person with a soft turban on his head, and that you can beat him. His support comes from the Hidden Imam Mahdi, he is made of iron. It will come back down to break your own heads."

Iran hangs three men

Tehran, Jan. 04 - Three men were hanged in a town south of Tehran on Monday.

The men, identified only by their first names, as brothers Alireza and Amir and Afghan citizen Dolat-Khan, were hanged in a prison in the town of Varamin, 30 kilometres south of Tehran.

They were accused of rape and murder.

Iran' lawmakers press for faster process of executing protesters

On Monday, January 4, a group of 36 members of the Iranian regime’s parliament affiliated to Ali Khamenei’s faction presented a bill with high urgency to the parliament calling for faster process of executing detainees of the uprising.

The 36 deputies are led by Rouhollah Hosseinian who is a close associate to Ahmadinejad. The bill states, “In view of the need to urgently investigate the charges of agitators and punish the offenders and take preventive measures which are of particular importance, the following bill with high urgency is presented… the charges that relate to causing public disorder, if the defendant is found to be Mohareb (person waging war on God), the period of investigation to be reduced from 20to 5 days.” Hossein Fadai, one of the officials of Kahrizak prison, is among those MPs who presented the bill.

Mohseni Ejei, the regime’s prosecutor general and former Minister of Intelligence and Security said yesterday, “Those who revolt against the just rule (regime), the rightly placed Imam and vali-e faqih (Supreme clerical leader), their sentence is death based on Shariat.” (Mehr state-run news agency, January 4)

On December 30, Ebrahim Raeesi, First Deputy of the Iranian regime’s Judiciary and a member of “the Death Committee” that massacred 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 based on a fatwa by Khomeini, told the state TV, “Anyone who stands against the Islamic rule is waging war on God… Using sticks and stones [in attacks] are also considered at acts of waging war on God and punishable by death.” On the same day, Alam al-Hoda, Friday prayer leader in Mashhad, northeast Iran, and a member of mullahs’ Assembly of Experts, said, “Whoever cooperates with the PMOI is in fact waging war on God.” He described “agitators of the day of Ashura” as the “foot soldiers” of the PMOI and stressed, “According to Imam’s verdict (Khomeini’s decree), those who created the chaos on Ashura are among those waging war on God.”

Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Iranian regime’s Minister of Interior, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghadam and Ahmad-Reza Radan, Commander and Deputy Commander of the State Security Force (SSF), as well as other heads of suppressive forces also described participants in gatherings and demonstrations as those who wage war on God and called for their rapid punishments.

The Iranian regime is trying in vain to prevent the continuation and expansion of nationwide uprising in Iran by intimidations, threats, executions, committing crimes and suppressive measures. All these would only strengthen the resolve of the Iranian people to overthrow the religious dictatorship.

Thousands of people have been arrested during the nationwide uprisings in recent months; many of them are under torture and in extremely critical situation.

Following the mass demonstrations of Ashura Day on December 27, over 1000 people have been arrested. Prosecutor General of Iran, Mohsen Ejei has announced the imminent execution of "at least three individuals" who were detained on that day.

Tehran's Public Prosecutor's Office has announced that the court proceedings of Ashura Day detainees will soon take place in Tehran.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has condemned the arrests and called for the release of over 1500 people who have been arrested in the last few days.

Widespread arrests & threats of death sentences

Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar on Tuesday warned anti-government protesters that they risked being sentenced to death if they continued demonstrations.

“If anyone takes part in riots, they will be considered as mohareb [waging war against God] and acting against national security,” Najjar told the official IRNA news agency.

The threat came one day after the country’s general-prosecutor, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, also said that “rioters” would face execution sentences.

Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, the punishment for people convicted as “mohareb” is execution.

Iran renews execution threat against protesters
Tuesday, 05 January 2010
By Ramin Mostafavi and Hashem Kalantari

TEHRAN, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Iran's interior minister warned opposition activists on Tuesday they risk execution as enemies of God if they continue anti-government demonstrations, and the foreign ministry said arrested foreigners face punishment.

Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar made the latest threat after the Intelligence Ministry said on Monday several foreigners engaged in a "psychological war" against the Islamic Republic were arrested on Dec. 27 in the bloodiest unrest since the aftermath of a disputed June 12 presidential poll.

The opposition says the vote was rigged to secure President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny the accusations, which they say were part of a Western-orchestrated plot to overthrow the Islamic system.

Eight people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi on the Shi'ite mourning day of Ashura. More than 40 leading reformists, including four advisers to Mousavi, have since been arrested.

"After Ashura, anyone who takes part in riots will be considered as 'mohareb' (waging war on God) and an opponent of national security," Najjar said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Despite such warnings, the opposition has shown no inclination to back down and street protests have continued sporadically in the six months since the vote.

Thousands of protesters were arrested after the election. Most have since been released but more than 80 reformists have received jail terms of up to 15 years. Five people have been sentenced to death but none has been executed so far.

DUAL NATIONALS

Police said more than 300 protesters detained on Dec. 27 were still in jail. The authorities have repeatedly accused opposition leaders of links to "foreign enemies".

The Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday those held included foreigners and Iranians with dual citizenship. It gave no details of their nationalities or identities.

"Among those arrested are several foreigners and dual- national Iranians... The legal procedure in connection with their cases is under way," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a weekly news conference.

"They will be punished if their crime is proved."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced dismay on Monday at the way the authorities have cracked down on pro-reform protests.

Mehmanparast criticised her remarks, saying the West was "siding with a group of troublemakers" in Iran.

"Over the long run, such mistakes will jeopardise their ... countries' interests," he said, without elaborating.

Hardline clerics and lawmakers have urged the judiciary to punish opposition leaders for igniting tension, branding them enemies of God, liable to execution under Islamic law.

"Holding an open trial for the leaders of the sedition will disgrace the leaders of the grand sin in history," Gholamhossein Elham, a close ally to Ahmadinejad, told IRNA on Tuesday.

The authorities have arrested relatives and aides of Mousavi but stopped short of detaining or prosecuting the most prominent political opponents so far.

In a statement last Friday, Mousavi defied calls for his execution, saying his "blood is not redder than that of other martyrs" who have died since the vote.

The unrest that erupted after the June vote is the most serious since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The opposition says more than 70 people were killed, but the authorities have estimated the post-vote death toll at about half that number, including pro-government militiamen.

A judiciary official told the students news agency ISNA that some opposition websites had been blocked for "spreading lies and disturbing public opinion".

"Those who try to endanger the country's cyberspace by publishing false news ... will be also punished," said Abdolsamad Khoramabadi. At least four pro-reform newspapers have been banned and dozens of websites blocked in Iran since June. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Paul Taylor)

Clashes to rescue from the gallows

Clashes between people and the security forces when two men were hanged in public in southern Iran- The bodies were taken over by the people- One might still be alive

More than 1500 people were gathered at the place where the public hanging was supposed to take place.

Two men convicted of armed robbery were hanged in public in the south Iranian city of Sirjan in Kerman province early this morning. The men were identified as "Esmaeil Fathizadeh" and "Mohammad Esfandiarpour"

According to the report, many people among them families of the two men, who were gathered at the spot started chanting against the authorities and threw stones at the security forces. The security forces answered with tear gas and shooting in the air. But the people managed to take away the bodies of the two men. One of the men seemed to be still alive when his body was removed by the protesting people said the report.

"Esmaeil Fathizadeh" and "Mohammad Esfandiarpour" were sentenced to death charged with armed robbery and were scheduled to be hanged in public in Sirjan on 22th December 2009.

Many people among them families of the two men, who were gathered at the spot started chanting against the authorities and threw stones at the security forces. The security forces answered with tear gas and shooting in the air. But few moments after being hanged they were rescued by the people who threw stones at the security forces and shouted slogans against the Iranian regime.

Few hours later both men were arrested by the security forces and their hanging was rescheduled to early evening. But due to heavy clashes between the people and the security forces they were transferred to the prison where it is believed they were hanged.

According to our sources at least 3 people were killed and more than 30 wounded, some of them seriously.

Many people have been arrested in connection to this public uprising. Public hanging is a barbaric act that Iranian regime uses to spread fear among the people. People of Sirjan have shown that they will no longer accept medieval punishments and a medieval regime. Today’s event in Sirjan shows that the Iranian regime is clearly weakened.