August 23
IRAN:
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL----Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/036/2004 (Public)
News Service No: 210
23 August 2004
IRAN: Amnesty International outraged at reported execution of a 16 year
old girl
Amnesty International today expressed its outrage at the reported
execution of a girl who is believed to be 16 years old, Ateqeh Rajabi, in
Neka in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, on 15 August, for
"acts incompatible with chastity" (amal-e manafe-ye 'ofat). Ateqeh Rajabi
was reportedly publicly hanged on a street in the city centre of Neka.
Amnesty International is alarmed that this execution was carried out
despite reports that Ateqeh Rajabi was not believed to be mentally
competent, and that she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer at any
stage.
The execution of Ateqeh Rajabi is the tenth execution of a child offender
in Iran recorded by Amnesty International since 1990. Amnesty
International has urged Iran's judicial authorities to halt further
executions of child offenders - people who were under 18 years old at the
time of the offence. This is to bring Iran's law and practice in line with
requirements of international human rights law.
A bill to raise the minimum age for execution to 18 was reportedly under
consideration by parliament in December 2003. However, the bill is not
believed to have been ratified by the Guardian Council, Iran's highest
legislative body.
Amnesty International believes that the execution of Ateqeh Rajabi
underlines the urgent necessity that Iran pass legislation removing
provision for the execution of child offenders, thereby preventing further
execution of child offenders, and bringing Iran into line with its
obligations under international law.
Further, the organization is urging the authorities to clarify whether
Ateqel Rajabi had legal representation and whether a legally approved
doctor deemed her psychologically fit to stand trial.
Background
According to report on Peyk-e Iran, Ateqeh Rajabi was sentenced to death
approximately three months ago, by a lower court in Neka in the northern
Iranian province of Mazandaran, for "acts incompatible with chastity".
During her trial, at which she was reportedly not represented by a lawyer,
the judge allegedly severely criticised her dress, harshly reprimanding
her. It is alleged that Ateqeh Rajabi was mentally ill both at the time of
her crime and during her trial proceedings.
It is reported that although Ateqeh Rajabi's national ID card stated that
she was 16 years old, the Mazandaran Judiciary announced at her execution
that her age was 22.
The case reportedly attracted the attention of the Head of the Judiciary
for the Mazandaran province, who ensured that the case be heard promptly
by the Supreme Court. In Iran, all death sentences have to be upheld by
the Supreme Court before they can be implemented.
The death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, and Ateqeh Rajabi was
publicly hanged in the city centre of Neka on 15 August. According to
Peyk-e Iran, the lower court judge that issued the original sentence was
the person that put the noose around her head as she went to the gallows.
On the same night that she was buried, Ateqeh Rajabi's corpse was
reportedly removed from the grave by unknown individuals. The Rajabi
family have lodged a complaint and have called for an investigation.
The co-defendant of Ateqeh Rajabi, an unnamed man, was reportedly
sentenced to 100 lashes. He was released after this sentence was carried
out.
As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran is bound not to execute
child offenders. Both treaties provide that capital punishment shall not
be imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 year of age at the
time of committing the offence.
(source: Amnesty International)
INDIA:
India - Film on hangman rekindles capital punishment issue
In a chilling commentary against what he calls the glorification of
capital punishment by the media and the sudden 'personal interest' of the
West Bengal Government in the execution of murder and rape convict
Dhananjoy Chatterjee, a film maker here has put together a film that seeks
to rekindle the big debate on the issue.
Titled "One Day From a Hangman's Life," the hour-long documentary film by
4-time national award winning director Joshy Joseph captures hangman Nata
Mallik in his many hues--as a needy man encashing his sound bytes, as a
seasoned actor who knows what adds punch to a TV interview and as the head
of a family worried about the future of his progeny.
But beneath its biographical veneer, the documentary tries to point a
finger at the 'media's lopsided projection' of an execution and
iconisation of a hangman, who even shared a public forum with Chief
Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's wife suggesting, in Joseph's words, the
state's personal involvement in the whole affair.
Shot on June 23, the eve of the first official date announced for
Chatterjee's hanging (later deferred when the President reconsidered his
mercy plea), the action takes place mostly within a dingy 10X8 room in
Malliks south Kolkata residence, the media's most frequented destination
for about 2 months preceding Chatterjees dramatic execution on August 14.
The film begins with a shot of Mallik at 9:30 am on June 23 lighting his
favourite brand of cigarette and gearing up for a day that would have
ended in an execution in its late hours.
It builds up the tension and ends in a typical anti-climax when Mallik is
informed that the hanging is cancelled.
"Though he keeps repeating his rehearsed lines in front of umpteen cameras
throughout the day saying it is a government job and he is simply carrying
out their orders, you can actually see a crestfallen man at twilight when
he hears that his services will not be required tomorrow," Joseph says.
Indulging in a little sting operation, cameraman Razak Kottakkal switched
off the lights midway and posed not to be shooting.
Mallik was then seen in his real colours. "Dekho koi khabarwallah bahar
hai ki nahin? (Is there any mediaman outside?)," he is seen asking his son
while gesticulating for money. "Police wallah ko phone karo jana hai ki
nahin (Call the police and ask if we have to go)."
He follows it up with an utter sense of desparation. "Aaj raat ko thoda
jyada peena padega. Nahin to neend nahin ayegi. (I will have to drink a
little more tonight. Or else Ill not get any sleep)."
(source: Britta Slopianka, Axis of Logic, Correspondent in Germany)
