URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE
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Note: Please write on behalf of this person even though you
may not have received the original UA when issued on
September 25, 2003. Thanks!
2 August 2004
Further Information on EXTRA 44/03 issued 25
September 2003 and re-issued 23 October 2003
Fear of imminent execution
IRAN: Afsaneh Norouzi (f), aged 34
Iran's Supreme Court has quashed the death sentence of
Afsaneh Norouzi, a woman convicted of the murder of a
senior police official, who she alleged had tried to rape her.
According to her lawyer, quoting from the verdict, the
Supreme Court ''found deficiencies in her case''.
International pressure helped to secure this decision. Since
this Urgent Action began, the case has received wide media
coverage and national attention, and was taken up by
Iranian NGOs and members of the ''women's caucus'' in
Iran's parliament, who sought the assistance of the Speaker
of Parliament to halt the execution and campaigned for the
judiciary to order a review of the case.
The case will now be sent to a local court in Kish, in
southern Iran, for further consideration. The court will have
the power to concur with the original verdict and therefore
re-sentence Afsaneh Norouzi to death (although the
sentence would have to be upheld by the Supreme Court),
impose a reduced sentence, or release her. Further pressure
now is vital to ensure that the Supreme Court's ruling is
respected.
Afsaneh Norouzi was arrested in 1997 for the murder of the
Head of Police Intelligence in Kish. She asserted that she
had killed him in self-defence to protect herself from being
raped. The death sentence was reportedly upheld by the
Supreme Court in August 2003. Following national and
international pressure, the head of the Judiciary Ayatollah
Shahroudi ordered a stay of execution, and in November
sent the case back to the Supreme Court for review, stating
that he had ''doubts'' about the original ruling. This review
led to the death sentence being overturned.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to quash the
death sentence of Afsaneh Norouzi, who had been
sentenced to death for killing a man she alleged had tried to
rape her;
- recognizing the right and responsibility of governments to
bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences, but
urging that the death penalty should not be re-imposed
when the case is examined by a lower court in Kish;
- reminding the authorities of Article 61 of the Islamic
Criminal Law. It states that: ''If whilst defending one's life,
honour, chastity, property or freedom against any
immediate or imminent aggression, one makes an action
which is an offence, provided that all of the following
conditions are met, one will not be prosecuted and
punished: a - The defence is proportionate to danger or
aggression; b - the action is not excessive; c - calling the
governmental forces is not possible immediately, or calling
them is not effective in repelling the aggression or danger.''
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic:
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 649 5880 (please mark 'For the
attention of the Office of His Excellency,
Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)
Email: webmas...@wilayah.org (on the subject line
write: For the attention of the Office of
His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma
Khamenei, Qom)
Head of the Judiciary:
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: ir...@iranjudiciary.org (please ask for your
message to be forwarded to HE Ayatollah
Shahroudi)
COPIES TO:
Centre for Women's Participation:
Dr Zahra Shojaei
Head of the Centre of Women's Participation and Advisor
to the President
128 Shaheed Labbafi Nejad Street
Tehran 13156, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 640 3038
Email: c...@women.org.ir (please mark for the
attention of Dr Zahra Shojaei)
Iran does not presently have an embassy in this country.
Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
Embassy of Pakistan
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the
Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm,
Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after
September 13, 2004.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots
movement that promotes and defends human
rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept
intact, including contact information and stop
action date (if applicable). Thank you for your
help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: u...@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL UPDATE
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