Jan. 12
IRAN:
Abdol-Karim Lahidji: Judiciary's Intimidation Tactics and Disproportionate
Punishments Marks Its Failure to Deliver Public Justice
In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran,
prominent France-based lawyer and human rights activist Abdol-Karim Lahidji
said that the experience of the past 3 decades proves that increasing
punishment levels have not led to a decrease in crime rates nor to the
establishment of security in the society.
Following the announcement of death sentences for 2 men who were charged with
violating public security through "robbery," prominent lawyer and Vice
President of the International Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) Abdol-Karim
Lahidji told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the main
focus of the Iranian Judiciary's penal policies is on increasing the punishment
levels and acting selectively vis a vis judicial cases. Lahidji believes that
this policy is a vehicle of suppression, employed by the regime to eliminate
its dissidents, and that the duality would lead to ineffectiveness of these
policies, elimination of security from the society, and deprivation of the
Iranian nation of their minimum social and political rights.
On December 1, 2012, a surveillance video was released on YouTube in which 4
young men on motorcycles, armed with a dagger, attacked a pedestrian on a
Tehran street and robbed him of his briefcase before the eyes of other
pedestrians. One of them also hit the victim in the face with the dagger and
fled the scene. The 4 men were tried on January 2, and 2 of them were sentenced
to death on charges of offending public sensibilities.
On January 2, the lower court proceedings for the four suspects in the "robbery
case" were held at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under Judge
Abolghassem Salavati. 2 of the suspects were sentenced to death and the 2
others were sentenced to 10 years in prison, 5 years in exile, and 74 lashes.
Judge Salavati is the same judge who presided over the show trials of political
and civil activists after the 2009 election, and is one of the judges known for
his long prison and execution sentences.
Failure of the Judiciary's Penal Policies
In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran,
prominent France-based lawyer and human rights activist Abdol-Karim Lahidji
said that the experience of the past 3 decades proves that increasing
punishment levels have not led to a decrease in crime rates nor to the
establishment of security in the society.
"A government's penal policies cannot be only based on severe action and
increasing punishment. For example, in the area of the war on drugs over the
past 3 decades, an increase in the number of executions and an increase in the
drug-related crimes indicate that this policy has failed, as hundreds of annual
executions not only have not curbed the drug trafficking and its related crimes
in Iran, the crime rate has increased many times. Execution statistics
extracted by human rights organizations through what is published in Iranian
newspapers, which may not even include all the executions carried out in
Iranian prisons, indicate that the number of executions in Iran has grown
between 2 and 3 times. Officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran themselves
admit that 70% of these executions are drug-related. When increasing the
punishment does not decrease the crime rate, it means that it is not possible
to combat that crime with the intensified punishment. There are social,
economic, and political factors that lead to the commitment of crimes, and so
long as those elements remain present and they are not dealt with, it is
obvious that crime and offense statistics will not only cease in the society,
but they will increase daily," Lahidji said.
Referring to the selective treatment of offenders by the Iranian Judiciary, the
IFHR Vice President said that the selective treatment is one of the reasons for
the loss of pubic trust in the Judiciary. "In some cases where the topic of
economic corruption comes up and the Iranian authorities are forced to talk
about it - that is when they talk about individuals who have embezzled billions
of public assets, and in some cases they are even reporting execution sentences
for some of them - we observe that the perpetrators enjoy so much security,
support, and backing that their identities are not even exposed in court. In
most cases they are only introduced by their initials, such as 'G.K.' It is
apparent that these individuals rely on political and economic backing within
the regime. This even includes sex crimes. A while back they said that several
individuals were sentenced to death on sex-related offenses and they were
subsequently executed in public squares. It is the same way for murder cases.
Conversely, from the moment political suspects are arrested, they create a
negative atmosphere around them, they fabricate cases against them, and invent
crimes for them, and quickly issue heavy sentences for them," Lahidji said.
"In the Islamic Republic, the penal policies are based on creating fear and
intimidation in society. For example, in the case of political prisoners the
punishment is to create fear and horror, so that people can see that the price
for political activities, or participating in social activities, or even
defending political suspects (for example in the case of my lawyer colleagues)
is no longer 3 and 6 months in prison, but 6 years and 10 years and 13 years,
and to refrain from such activities. They issued very heavy sentences in the
cases of our colleagues, like Nasrin Sotoudeh, Abdolfattah Soltani, and
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah. The policy the Islamic Republic has adopted and which has
intensified over the past several years is sure not to lead to any results, and
they will not be able to combat factors that lead to crimes in Iran," he
explained.
Show Programs: Ambiguity in Kahrizak Case 4 Years On, and Sattar Beheshti's
Case
"After the Kahrizak events, with all that noise and propaganda, and even after
the father of 1 of the victims went to see [Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei and he
ordered an investigation, after 4 years they are now saying that trials of the
culprits will begin, and 3 judges, including Saeed Mortazavi (former Tehran
Prosecutor) who were involved in these events are going to be put on trial. Or,
recently, in the case of the young blogger, Sattar Beheshti, who, it was
determined, died under torture, only last week a report by the National
Security Commission was read at the Parliament, and 2 MPs said that the report
had been censored. Now, with all the noisy propaganda aimed at gaining a good
reputation for the Judiciary - which unfortunately is a nest of corruption
itself - and, as they claim, to heal the people's feelings, they inform us of
rapid review of a case such as the unsafe streets. All this happens under
circumstances where people see that the Judiciary, as a source of justice in
the country, is itself a corrupt entity and is used as a tool of suppression
and political goals in the hands of the government to eliminate its political
dissidents," Abdol-Karim Lahidji told the Campaign.
With more than 4 decades of experience in legal affairs and human rights,
Abdol-Karim Lahidji spoke candidly about the present "security" situation of
the country. "There is no security in Iranian society. Before, murders would
happen in people's homes, but now they rob people on the street. They take
ransom and attack people with daggers and weapons that are a lot more dangerous
than the ones used before. Now, officials in charge of security think that by
creating such noisy propaganda, they can create fear in the hearts of criminals
and those contemplating committing a crime, and assure people that the
government and the Judiciary are in control of the situation, and that soon the
perpetrators will be punished, hoping to reduce the air of lack of security
through propaganda programs. But in my opinion they will not succeed. In Iran,
people have no security vis a vis the government itself, the
security-intelligence organizations, and other [state] entities. . . . Because
a major part of the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards], the police, and the
Intelligence Ministry is corruption-ridden, they can never combat crime," said
Lahidji.
"Basically, in the new Iranian Penal Code, meaning the one implemented
post-Islamic Revolution, there is no legal requirement for the punishment to be
proportionate to the crime. Though they say there is an article in the new
Penal Code, the titles are so general, they can be abused or misinterpreted
very easily," said Lahidji about charges such as "moharebeh" (enmity with God)
for individuals who threaten public security on the streets, or "moharebeh" and
death sentences for drug-related crimes.
The Robbers and the Blogger: Both Acting Against National Security!
"During the 1st few years after the Revolution, [authorities] killed thousands
of people under general charges such as 'moharebeh' or 'corruption on earth,'"
Abdol-Karim Lahidji told the Campaign. "Since they imported such titles into
the Islamic Penal Code, they have interpreted these general concepts in
whatever way they have chosen. What is the meaning of 'moharebeh'? Does
'moharebeh' mean that when someone uses a dagger to attack people, it would be
considered the same as taking up arms against God or the Islamic Republic? The
same thing goes for 'corruption on earth.' Or consider the charge of 'acting
against national security' in the case of political crimes. It means that
opposing the government is 'acting against security.' Acting against security
is the type of crime these robbers are committing against the people on the
street. They are depriving the public from security, and endangering security.
But when a blogger writes something, how can he compromise public and national
security and jeopardize security?" he added.
"The authorities have imported some general concepts into the Islamic penal
Code, and they have made them available to a group who, as judges, lack
sufficient legal training, as well as independence. . . . Mr. Shahroudi, the
former Head of the Judiciary, said that when he took over the Judiciary from
his predecessor Mohammad Yazdi, it had been in ruins. Mr. Shahroudi further
deteriorated the branch and then delivered it to Mr. Larijani. Over the past
few years, [Mr. Larijani] has in effect taken the Judiciary to a level where
the rulings have broken records of severity and frequency of sentences.
Therefore, there is no such thing as proportion between the crimes and their
punishment, the way it is stipulated in a modern penal code. Separating crimes
and assuring their overall compatibility with the extent of the crime are
neither carefully foreseen in the law, nor in action. This is why you will
observe that first they may arrest someone on charges of espionage. Then they
request the death sentence for him. Ultimately we will see the suspect
sentenced to 6 months in prison, and if he is a foreigner, he will be released
to return to his country. Of course that's good, but I'm trying to say that
there has never been any proportion between the crime and the punishment in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, because as I said, the Judiciary neither has
independence, nor specialist employees who would have the necessary moral
requirements for employment in a judicial position. Overall, this is the cause
of the current situation they have caused for public security, rights, and
freedom," Lahidji concluded.
********************
Death Sentences of 5 Ahwazi Arabs Are Upheld By Iranian Supreme Court- IHR
Urges The International Community To Act
According to sources in Iran the death Sentences of 5 Ahwazi Arab prisoners
were upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court.
In July 2012 Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported that Judge Seyed Mohammad Bagher
Mousavi from branch 2 of the Ahwaz Revolutionary Court has notified the lawyers
and family members of 5 Ahwazi Arab activists about their death sentences.
The recent reports say that the Branch 32 of the Iranian Supreme Court has
upheld the death sentences.
These activists are: Mohammad Ali Amouri, Hadi Rashedi, Hashem Sha'bani, and 2
brothers by the names of Seyed Mokhtar Albooshooke and Seyed Jaber Albooshooke.
Mohammad Ali Amouri is a cultural activist and the editor in chief of Altaras,
a student publication at the Isfahan University of Technology. Hashem Sha'bani
is a teacher at numerous high schools in the city of Khalfieh. Hadi Rashedi and
the 2 brothers (Mokhtar and Jaber) were condemned to death based on the charges
of "Acting against national security" and "Moharebeh" (enmity against God).
These 5 individuals have reportedly been forced to make false confessions. Two
of the men, Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Shabaninejad, were featured on a TV show on
Press TV, the Iranian authority's English-language satellite channel,
confessing to their alleged subversive acts. Reports indicate that the
confessions were given under severe physical and mental torture. However, based
on these confessions, the court sentenced all 5 to death in July 2012.
IHR strongly condemns the death sentences against the Ahwazi Arab activists.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: " We urge the
international community to condemn the death sentences". He continued: "Several
political prisoners are at imminent danger of execution and strong
international reactions are needed to stop these executions".
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
*************************
2 Kurdish Activists Face Death Penalty in Iran
2 young Iranian Kurd activists, Zaniar (or Zanyar) and Loghman Moradi are about
to be sent to the gallows according to multiple Iranian news websites and human
rights organisations. They have been accused of murdering the son of a local
Sunni prayer Imam from the town of Malayer and have reportedly admitted to the
charge after nine months of detention without leave or visiting rights. They
both claimed afterwards that their confessions were made under duress and
torture including rape threats by their interrogators.
Meanwhile an open letter has been published in the name of Zaniar Moradi
pleading with the "young people" of the world for his life, making it clear
that he and his cousin are innocent and that they "despise death".
Facebook Campaign
A Facebook group titled 'Save Zaniar and Loghman' has been launched to support
the 2 men.
Jamal asks people to step in and help in this Facebook comment:
You humans! Something must be done. Let's stop the crime machine of the mad,
cannibalistic, blood-thirsty and fascist Islamic regime. The whole world must
be ignited against these organized crimes. Please join. We welcome any material
that can be utilized towards this aim. Please assist in raising awareness and
make this page known to others.
Here is a cartoon supporting the Facebook campaign: "Each 'like' is a 'no' to
execution":
Each 'like' is a 'no' to execution - Facebook campaign to save 2 Iranian Kurds,
cartoonist Mana Neyestani, Mardomak
A Father's Message
Zaniar's father uses YouTube to ask international organizations to put pressure
on the Iranian regime to stop executing his son and other political prisoners.
He says in this video that Zaniar was tortured.
"Forced Confessions"
Iranian blogger, Mohammad Ali, has no doubt that the confessions initially made
by Zaniar and Loghman were orchestrated and forced by the Islamic Republic
agents. Mohammad Ali's blog named 'Faryaad-e Alborz' [Roar of Mount Alborz]
reads]:
Life and death of humans are not in the hands of their fellow humans. Based on
the news we have heard from the fascist regime in power in Iran, the framing of
innocent prisoners has not been rare. Inmates have been put under such pressure
by force and physical abuse that they have confessed to uncommitted crimes.
Undoubtedly, Loghman and Zaniar Moradi, have been forced to confessing to
murder after nine months of torture, abuse and threat to rape.
The writer of Faryad-e Alborz asks in the end:
I don't know if there is a human rights committee in the world or not? Since
there is only talk and talk and talk. What have they done in Iran? Oh you
members of the human rights entities, which prisoner has been saved by the
power of your blade from assault and battery and execution?
(source: Global Voices)
INDIA:
Ujjwal Nikam opposes death penalty for rapists
Amidst raging debate in the country over tough anti-rape laws, including
capital punishment for the culprits, a top lawyer has said death penalty is not
the ultimate solution to curb such cases and suggested longer jail term.
Even though there had been a nationwide outcry over the last month's gang-rape
of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi and subsequent vociferous demand for sending the
accused to the gallows, death penalty is not the proper punishment in such
cases, said Ujjwal Nikam, who has been special public prosecutor in several
high-profile cases, including 26/11.
Elaborating further, he said provision of death sentence may prompt the rapist
to kill the victim. Hence, death penalty is not the ultimate solution in such
crimes.
Increase in the jail term to 25 years or till death should serve the purpose,
Nikam said.
Police should be sensitized about handling cases related to crime against
women, he said.
Generally, there is no eyewitness in the cases of sexual assault. Hence, the
police investigation and trial take place based on the version given by the
victim. This bring limitations on legal provisions, Nikam maintained.
He suggested that evidence in rape cases should be recorded through video
conferencing.
(source: The Times of India)
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