June 2
IRAN:
Iran Executes Political Prisoner----Political opponent hanged for backing
opposition group
Iranian authorities executed on Sunday a dissident political prisoner on
charges of "waging war against God," according to opposition leaders and human
rights activists tracking the situation.
Gholamreza Khosravi, a 49-year-old Iranian political dissident, was hanged in
prison early Sunday due to his support for the People's Mujahideen Organization
of Iran (PMOI), an opposition group that seeks to overthrow the ruling regime.
Khosravi was initially sentenced to life in prison in 2008 after he contributed
$3,000 to a satellite television station affiliated with the PMOI, an exiled
dissident group also known as the MEK.
Iranian authorities changed the sentence to death in April 2012 and carried it
out over the weekend after Khosravi refused orders to publicly condemn the PMOI
in interviews, according to sources close to Khosravi's family.
Human rights activists and PMOI officials condemned the execution and charged
Iranian authorities with carrying out an unfair trial and imprisonment of
Khosravi, whose family was summoned to the Evin prison outside Tehran late
Saturday and informed of Khosravi's execution order.
Khosravi's advocates expressed frustration at the Obama administration,
claiming that it is not doing nearly enough to stop the Iranian regime's
ongoing human rights abuses and near daily executions of prisoners.
"The execution of Mr. Khosravi was an act of utter cowardice, reflecting the
Iranian regime's intense fear of the growing prowess and appeal of the Iranian
Resistance within Iran," Ali Safavi, the U.S. spokesman for the National
Council of Resistance of Iran, a PMOI affiliate, told the Washington Free
Beacon on Sunday.
"The international community, and in particular the Obama administration, must
end their inexcusable silence vis-a-vis the egregious rights abuses in Iran,
which have dramatically increased since the so-called moderate Hassan Rouhani
became president," Safavi said. "Tehran's human rights file must be referred to
the UN Security Council and its leaders must be held accountable for their
crimes against humanity."
Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran,
called the execution a "flagrant violation of international law" and expressed
alarm over what he called "the widening scope of executions in Iran, including
juvenile executions," according to Shaheed's Twitter feed.
Khosravi was defiant until his death, observers said, and refused to renounce
his support for the PMOI despite pressure from Iranian authorities.
"I have no fear or horror in declaring my support for the PMOI. Let me be sent
to the gallows for this support and for the anti-human animosity of this regime
towards MEK and its supporters," Khosravi wrote in a 2013 letter from prison.
"Let me be the flag of honor and liberation for the heroic people of Iran and
let our martyrdom result in defaming this anti-human regime and cause its
quicker downfall."
Khosravi said that his life imprisonment was changed to death due to his
refusal to participate in Iranian regime propaganda.
"The basis for my death sentence is that I have exposed brutality of the
Ministry of Intelligence and refused to provide information and doing TV
interviews, renouncing the MEK," he wrote.
The execution of Khosravi came just a day after an Iranian court sentenced 8
citizens to lengthy jail terms for criticizing the regime on Facebook.
The 8 people reportedly received sentences ranging from seven to 20 years for
Facebook posts "insulting the supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the
authorities," as well as other charges of "anti-regime activities, sacrilege
and spreading lies," according to Agence France-Presse.
(source: Freebeacon.com)
*******************
Fearing protests Iranian regime secretly buries Gholamreza Khosravi of PMOI
(MEK)
On Sunday midnight, June 1, 6 agents from the Prosecutor's Office and the
Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) secretly buried Gholamreza
Khosravi of the PMOI in Bagh-e-Rezvan Cemetery in city of Isfahan.
Subsequent to hanging Gholamreza, the mullahs' henchmen not only refused to
hand over his corpse to his family who had spent all the night in front of the
Gohardasht prison, but ruthlessly and by resorting to deceit, provided
contradictory answers to his family and referred them to places like the Evin
Prison and the Prosecutors' Office to exacerbate the pain and suffering of the
grieving family.
In reality, in fear of public protest and outrage, Gholamerza's corpse was
surreptitiously transferred to Isfahan (440 Kilometers away from Tehran).
The efforts of his family to recieve his corpse were futile. And at midnight
Gholamreza was secretly buried in Isfahan Bagh-e-Rezvan Cemetery. The MOIS
offices in Tehran and Isfahan have warned that nobody is allowed to hold a
funeral procession or to publish a report regarding the location and the way of
his burial.
Gholamreza Khosravi was hanged in Karaj Gohardasht Prison on Sunday, June 1,
after 12 years of imprisonment and torture in different dungeons. Following his
arrest for the 2nd time in 2007, he was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.
But due to the fact that he did not submit to the regime's pressure to take
part in television interview against the PMOI, he was condemned to twice
execution in a show trial.
Gholamreza was severely beaten during the April 17 raid to the Evin Prison. He
was injured in his head, face, and ear, and was transferred to solitary
confinement. He immediately went on a hunger strike along with other prisoners
until they returned to the Ward 350.
The regime's Prosecutor's Office on Sunday declared that Gholamreza Khosravi of
the PMOI was charged with "Moharebeh (enmity against God), due to active effort
to pursue the goals of the PMOI", disseminating information "through media
outfits affiliated to the PMOI", "providing financial contribution", and
recruiting "a number of individuals for the PMOI organization".
According to the statement of Amnesty International, the execution of
Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani in addition to violation of "international law,"
was carried out in the violation of the regime's own laws. Not turning over his
corpse to his family, and his secret burial demonstrate the faltering clerical
regime's growing fear from the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance.
****************************
8 cellmates of executed political prisoners exiled to Gohardasht prison
Hours after the criminal execution of political prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi
Savadjani of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) on Sunday,
the Iranian regime authorities at Tehran's Evin prison exiled 7 of his
cellmates to Gohardasht prison where he had been transferred prior to his
execution.
The 7 exiled political prisoners of Ward 350 (Section 350) of Evin are:
Assadollah Hadi, Reza Akbari Monfared, Abul-Qassem Fouladvand, Asqar Qatan, Ali
Islampoor, Gholam Hossein Assadi and Reza Shahabi.
Prior to that, on Saturday (May 31), the Iranian regime had transferred another
Gholamreza's cellmate, political prisoner Behzad Arab, to Gohardasht prison,
after being summoned to the prison's office and severely beaten by suppressive
forces upon orders of deputy public prosecutor, a henchman named Khodabakhshi.
The beating of Bezad Arab, prompted political prisoners to protest by chanting
slogans.
Reza Shahabi, member of Tehran Bus Union's board of directors, announced a
hunger strike to protest the repressive measure of sending political prisoners
to exile at Gohardasht.
The April 17 brutal and bloody raid against Evin prison was aimed at disbanding
the Ward 350 of the prison where political prisoners steadfastness and
solidarity had become a source of fear for the regime.
*********************
Iranian American communities condemn execution of Gholamreza Khosravi
The Organization of Iranian American Communities condemned the execution of
political prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi, and urges the United States government
to condemn this horrific crime and make human rights the primary policy item in
relation to Iran.
The Iranian regime has continued its reign of terror against dissidents, with
the execution of political prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi which took place on
Sunday June 1.
Khosravi was an outspoken supporter of Iran's main opposition, the Peoples
Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and was charged with "waging war
against God" (moharebeh) by the Iranian regime.
Khosravi was arrested in the Kerman Province (in Southern Iran) in 2008 by the
Ministry of Intelligence and was sentenced to 6 years' of imprisonment.
Khosravi was subject to torture and extreme duress in prison and reportedly
spent over 40 months in solitary confinement.
Khosravi was also one of the main actors in an April 17th protest among inmates
in Section 350 of Evin prison.
The protest which was brutally suppressed by authorities, and Khosravi was
reportedly told that he would be executed soon.
As is typically the case in Iran's judicial system, Khosravi was denied due
process in a trial which Amnesty International called "a breach of Iran's
domestic law as well International law."
This horrific act of injustice is just the latest example of the lengths the
Iranian regime will go to in order to terrorize those who oppose it.
Iran continues to lead the world in execution rate, and has actually increased
the number of executions since the election of so called "moderate" Rouhani.
The execution of dissidents simply for associating with an opposing idea shows
that this regime is bankrupt both morally and politically.
(source for all: Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran)
SUDAN:
Sudan denies mother sentenced to hang to be freed soon
Sudan denied on Sunday a Christian Sudanese woman sentenced to hang for
apostasy would be freed soon, saying quotes attributed to a foreign ministry
official had been taken out of context.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag was sentenced to death on May 15 under the Islamic
sharia law that has been in place since 1983 and outlaws conversions under pain
of death.
Abdullah al-Azraq, a foreign ministry under-secretary, told AFP and other media
outlets on Saturday that Ishag "will be freed within days in line with legal
procedure that will be taken by the judiciary and the ministry of justice."
But the foreign ministry said the release of the 27-year-old, who gave birth to
a baby girl in prison on Tuesday, depended on whether a court accepted an
appeal request made by her defence team.
A ministry statement said Azraq actually told media on Saturday "that the
defence team of the concerned citizen has appealed the verdict ... and if the
appeals court rules in her favour, she will be released."
Azraq said "the government does not interfere in the work of the judiciary
because it is an independent body," the ministry added.
"Some media took what the undersecretary said out of context, changing the
meaning of what he said."
After Azraq's comment Saturday, Ishag's husband, Daniel Wani, told AFP he did
not believe she would be freed.
"No one has contacted me and I don't think it will happen. We have submitted an
appeal but they have not looked at it yet, so how is it that they will release
her?" he said.
Ishag's lawyer Mohannad Mustapha had expressed doubts she would be released or
that charges against her would be dropped.
"The only party who can do that is the appeals court but I am not sure that
they have the full case file," he said on Saturday.
Earlier this week, Mustapha said a hearing that was due to take place on
Wednesday was postponed because the file was incomplete.
Ishag was born to a Muslim father but said during her trial she had never been
a Muslim herself.
The court gave her 3 days to "recant" her faith and when she refused, Ishag was
handed the death penalty and sentenced to 100 lashes for "adultery".
Under Sudan's interpretation of sharia, a Muslim woman cannot marry a
non-Muslim man, and any such relationship is regarded as adulterous.
Her case sparked international condemnation, with British Prime Minister David
Cameron denouncing the "barbaric" sentence.
Wani, a US citizen, visited Ishag and the baby on Thursday after being denied
access earlier in the week and said that both were in good health.
(source: Agence France-Presse)
PAKISTAN:
SUC asks govt to reinstate death penalty
Shia Ulema Council leader Allama Sajid Naqvi said that holding executions in
abeyance would definitely promote terrorism so the time was ripe to reinstate
capital punishment and bringing those awarded the punishment to gallows.
"The 60 terrorists who have been awarded death penalty should be executed," he
demanded addressing a press conference at Kamalpur Syedan here on Saturday.
He said that the government should form a policy to curb terrorism. "We will
fully support it as we want peace and prosperity at any cost. In fact, the
present rulers are not empowered therefore there is no peace in the country.
Peace is paramount for economic development. The PPP government held in
abeyance the capital punishment and now the PML-N is towing the same policy
which is beyond comprehension," he said. He urged the government to make
efforts to ensure peace in the country otherwise "we will announce 'national
protection policy' which is allowed in Constitution". He said that it was the
duty of the government to provide security for every citizen. He also condemned
the airing of blasphemous content by Geo TV and demanded action as per the
rules. He demanded that the government should take concrete steps for
eradication of poverty, unemployment and price hike.
He said the government could not deliver during its one-year tenure. He urged
it to take action against those involved in spreading sectarian hatred. Talking
about the recent visit of the prime minister to India, Naqvi said, "We are in
favour of better relations with neighbouring countries but on equality basis
and especially, the issue of Kashmir must not be ignored," he added.
(source: The Nation)
EGYPT:
Men sentenced to death were 'demons', says court
An Egyptian court that sentenced to death 37 Islamists and handed life terms to
492 others has defended its verdict, saying the men were "demons" who followed
Jewish scripture.
The court in the central city of Minya had triggered international outrage
earlier this year for sentencing to death hundreds of alleged supporters of
ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2 separate mass trials which only
lasted minutes.
In one trial in March, 529 were sentenced to death for the killing of a police
officer but the court later upheld the sentencing against only 37 of them,
while the rest were jailed for life.
In a statement on Sunday to justify its decision, the court said: "The accused
came out of the depths of hell ... to plunder Egypt's wealth, tyrannise its
people and they killed the deputy commissioner."
It described the men as "enemies of the nation" who used mosques to promote the
teachings of "their holy book, the Talmud", a central text of Judaism.
The military toppled Mursi in July last year following mass protests against
his year in power, and security forces launched a crackdown on his supporters,
killing hundreds and arresting thousands more.
In April the same court in Minya handed the death penalty to 683 people it said
were supporters of Mursi, accusing them of murder and the attempted murder of
policemen.
Judges are due to confirm the 683 death sentences on June 21.
(source: The Age)
INDIA:
1993 Mumbai Blasts: SC Stays Execution of Yakub Memon
In a breather for death row convict Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a key conspirator
with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, the Supreme Court
today stayed his execution and referred to a constitution bench his plea that
review pleas in death penalty cases be heard in an open court and not in
chambers.
A bench of justices J S Kehar and C Nagappan sought responses from the State of
Maharashtra, the Law Ministry and the apex court Registrar, also on the plea of
Memon of commuting his death sentence to life, saying, "in the meantime the
execution will remain stayed."
Memon, who claims to be suffering from Schizophrenia since 1996, said he is
behind bars for the last nearly 20 years and now the threat of execution is
looming and a convict cannot be awarded life imprisonment and the death penalty
for the same offence.
"For that the petitioner (Memon) has been continuously in custody since
5.8.1994 and was never released on bail. He has already undergone almost 20
years of detention and executing the death sentence on him at this belated
stage after a time lag of 20 years would amount to subjecting him to both life
imprisonment as well as death sentence," it said.
Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, appearing for Memon, said a similar plea by
a death row convict in the 2000 Red Fort attack case, Mohammed Arif, had been
referred to a 5-judge constitution bench.
Staying the execution of the death penalty, the bench referred Memon's plea,
filed through lawyer Shubail Farook, to a constitutional bench that seeks
setting aside of a provision of the Supreme Court Rules that provides for the
in-chamber hearing of review pleas emanating from the dismissal of appeals in
the death penalty cases.
The apex court had on March 21, 2013, upheld the death sentence of Memon and
commuted the death penalty awarded by a special TADA court to 10 others, who
had planted RDX explosives-laden vehicles at various places in Mumbai, to life
term by distinguishing their roles from that of Memon.
The petition has also sought "quashing the death sentence" and its substitution
with the life imprisonment on the ground that Memon is in jail since August 5,
1994 and has undergone almost 20 years of incarceration.
"For that the right to speedy trial of the petitioner as guaranteed under
Article 21 of the Constitution of India also stands violated in the instant
case due to the same taking 14 long years and thereafter the appeal proceedings
taking 6 more years and during the entire period the petitioner was
incarcerated behind bars," it said.
It also said the right to life be given "the widest import possible" as
consequences are irreversible in death penalty cases.
"For that as per Section 352 of the CrPC, a judgment in a criminal case is to
be pronounced in open Court and when the said procedure is not followed the
judgment becomes a nullity in the eyes of law. In the premises, the Order dated
30.7.2013 ...Having been pronounced behind closed doors in camera proceedings
is liable to be set aside and the same is liable to be heard in open Court with
permission to advance oral arguments," the plea said.
Even if there is the minutest possibility that the judges have "honestly erred
in passing the sentence of death", the convict ought to have the right to
address oral arguments as it is "more persuasive" than written briefs, it said.
"This is especially vital as this is the last option of judicial recourse that
a convict has and fairness demands that such an opportunity be granted to a
convict standing on the anvil of life and looking down at certain death," it
said.
Earlier, the apex court, in its verdict, had dealt with the role played by
Memon in the serial blasts and said he was the "driving force" and a
"mastermind" behind the blasts that rocked 12 crowded areas in Mumbai leaving
257 dead and over 700 injured.
The court had also said the 10 other convicts on death row were people of lower
strata in the society and were without any regular jobs and had fallen prey to
the "hidden motives" of the main conspirators.
(source: Outlook India)
MALAYSIA:
Trapped by drug gang, boy faces death in Malaysia
Delhi Police are investigating a complaint of an alleged massive job racket
where unsuspecting youths were apparently used as carriers for smuggling drugs
to foreign countries.
The investigations were began after a farmer's son was used as a carrier and
was now facing the death penalty in Malaysia. Police sources said that they
have requested the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to intervene as it looks
like an innocent boy had been trapped by gang members.
Tikam Singh, a native of a small village in Dehradun, has informed the Delhi
Police about the gang and urged them to interfere on behalf of his son who was
facing the death penalty. "In September last year, Sanjay Chauhan, who has done
BTech, was lured for a job by a company based at Delhi airport.
The family paid them Rs. 50,000 in 2 instalments and the boy was sent to
Malaysia on September 28. His employer gave him a briefcase, which he was
supposed to be delivered at their Malaysia office," said a senior Delhi Police
officer, requesting anonymity.
Chauhan's family told police that drugs were hidden in his suitcase, and the
boy was caught after landing at Malaysia airport. "He was not aware of the
presence of drug in the suitcase. We got to know about it when we received a
letter which my son had written from jail. He had written that he might be
given the death penalty," Tikam Singh told police in his statement.
Police are sensing a larger conspiracy and fear that more youths may have
fallen victim to the gang. "We have received complaints of cheating previously
too but this one is a serious case. The boy is facing death penalty and it
requires intervention of the MEA," the officer added. Boy's family had met the
external affairs minister of the outgoing government. Delhi Police have also
said that it will intimate the ministry to help the family.
"We have identified the suspects and will arrest them soon. Our immediate
priority is to put the death penalty on hold if possible, with the help of MEA.
After that the gang, which is using innocent youths will be nabbed," the
officer further said.
(source: Hindustan Times)
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