April 18
INDONESIA/AUSTRALIA: Corby 'won't be given death penalty' The defence team representing accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby say prosecutors will ask for a life sentence and a fine of $133,000 when the trial resumes this week. They would not seek the death penalty, Corby legal team spokesman Vasu Rasiah believes. Mr Rasiah told The Age the information was reliable, but would not reveal its source. "That's what they are proposing; that's the latest I was told," Mr Rasiah said yesterday. Prosecutors have refused to say what sentence they will seek. Mr Rasiah blasted as unfair the proposed request for a life sentence. He said such a request would demonstrate that prosecutors had taken no account of the witnesses Corby's legal team had produced. "If it's true then it shows there is no system of legal fairness in this country," Mr Rasiah said. Corby, 27, has denied smuggling 4.1 kilograms of cannabis into Bali last October. Prosecutors will try for the third time this Thursday to deliver their sentence request to Denpasar District court. The last two scheduled hearings were cancelled because Corby was ill. After Corby collapsed in court on Thursday, Chief Judge Linton Sirait gave permission for her to be taken to Sanglah Hospital for a check-up. But she had still not been taken, Mr Rasiah said. Plans to take Corby to hospital on Friday were postponed because media were gathered outside the prison. The delay in getting Corby to the hospital came after Queensland businessman and financial backer of Corby, Ron Bakir, accused prosecutors of asking the defence team to pay a bribe. While some witnesses have stated Corby is not guilty, none has provided the name of the person who did own the drugs, making it very likely Corby will be convicted. Mr Rasiah said the judges in the case had told prosecutors they should consider all the evidence presented, but they were only interested in the fact that Corby's bag contained marijuana. He said Corby should not be convicted of importing drugs if it was done without her consent. (source: The Age) IRAN: URGENT ACTION APPEAL ---------------------------------- 16 April 2005 UA 87/05 Fear of imminent execution IRAN: Abbas Hosseini, Afghan national, aged 19 Afghan refugee Abbas Hosseini is reportedly scheduled for execution on 1 May for a murder committed when he was 17. Iran is a state party to international treaties that expressly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed below the age of 18. In July 2003 Abbas Hosseini was reportedly helping a man, a member of the Revolutionary Guard, to move furniture in his house. He says the man made sexual advances to him. Abbas Hosseini then managed to leave the house by promising that he would return with his girlfriend. In a fit of rage he returned to the house in order to ''teach the man a lesson''. He lured the man outside, supposedly to meet the girlfriend, and stabbed him once with a knife. The man died shortly afterwards as a result of his injuries. Abbas Hosseini was arrested by the police and held in a juvenile detention centre in the city of Mashhad. He reportedly confessed to the murder, claiming that he had done it in a moment of insanity. A medical examination, conducted ten months after his arrest, rejected his claim of insanity at the time of the crime. Six months after his arrest he was transferred to the central prison in Mashhad, and charged with murder. On 3 June 2004 he was sentenced to death by Branch 43 of Mashhad Special Court. The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on 28 October. The family of the victim has refused to accept payment of compensation (diyeh) and has insisted the death sentence be carried out. Under Iran's penal code, death sentences imposed for murder can be commuted if the victim's heirs forgo their right to retribution (qesas) and ask instead for the payment of 'blood money' (diyeh). Abbas Hosseini was born in September 1985 to Afghan refugee parents in Mashhad, Iran. His family had fled to Iran to escape the civil war in Afghanistan, and he is considered a refugee by the UNHCR. He was 17 years old and attending high school when the crime took place. BACKGROUND INFORMATION As a state party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Iran has undertaken not to execute anyone for an offence committed when they were under the age of 18. Nevertheless, 11 child offenders have been executed in Iran since 1990. On 20 January 2005 Iman Farokhi was executed for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. On the same day an Iranian governmental delegation claimed that Iran does not execute people under the age of 18, in a declaration to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee, which monitors states' implementation of the CRC, urged Iran to immediately stay all executions of people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18, and abolish the use of the death penalty in such cases. The Committee said that it ''deplored'' the fact that Iran had continued to carry out such executions even after it ratified the CRC, including the execution that had taken place that day. There are least 37 children under sentence of death in Iran, including Rasoul Mohammadi, a 17-year-old boy who is due to be executed on 16 April at Esfahan prison. (See UA 86/05, MDE 13/012/2005, 14 April 2005) For the last three years, the Iranian authorities have been considering legislation that would prohibit the use of the death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: - 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; - urging the authorities to commute the death sentence imposed on Abbas Hosseini immediately; - asking for details of his trial, including his legal representation and the appeals against his conviction; - 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''; - calling on the Iranian authorities to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which called on Iran in January 2005 to ''immediately suspend the execution of all death penalties imposed on persons for having committed a crime before the age of 18, and to abolish the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for having committed crimes before the age of 18, as required by article 37 of the Convention.'' APPEALS TO: Please note that email addresses in Iran can be unreliable. Please keep trying. 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: [email protected] Salutation: Your Excellency Head of the Judiciary: His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Ministry of Justice Park-e Shahr Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: [email protected] (mark 'Please forward to HE Ayatollah Shahroudi') Salutation: Your Excellency COPIES TO: Speaker of Parliament: Gholamali Haddad Adel Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami (Parliament) Imam Khomeini Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Fax: 011 98 21 646 1746 Salutation: Dear Sir Iran does not presently have an embassy in this country. Instead, please send copies to: Iranian Interests Section 2209 Wisconsin Ave NW Washington DC 20007 Phone: 202 965 4990 Fax: 202 965 1073 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 May 1, 2005. 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: [email protected] http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/ Phone: 303 258 1170 Fax: 303 258 7881 ---------------------------------- END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL ----------------------------------
