IRAN:
DEATH SENTENCE FOR ‘INSULTING THE PROPHET'
An Iranian man has been sentenced to death for “insulting the Prophet of
Islam”. Soheil Arabi has
now had his sentence upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. He was sentenced for
posts deemed offensive to
the Prophet he had made on Facebook.
View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and
sample messages, here.
Photographer Soheil Arabi, 30, was sentenced to death on 30 August 2014
for “insulting the Prophet
of Islam” (Sabbo al-Nabbi) by a five-judge panel of Branch 76 of the
Criminal Court of Tehran: three
of the judges ruled in favor of the death penalty. The charge stems from
postings Soheil Arabi made
on eight Facebook accounts, which the authorities said belong to Soheil
Arabi. The Supreme Court
upheld the sentence on 24 November. In a separate case stemming from the
same Facebook posts, Soheil
Arabi was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “spreading propaganda
against the system” and
“insulting the leader”, by a Tehran Revolutionary Court on 4 September.
Soheil Arabi was arrested in November 2013 by the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) in his
home in Tehran, and spent two months in solitary confinement in section 2A
of Evin Prison, which is
under the control of the IRGC. During interrogation, he was pressured into
making a “confession”. He
was later transferred to Section 350 of the Prison, which is under the
control of the Judiciary.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Soheil Arabai’s case is the second case known to Amnesty International
where someone was sentenced
to death for “insulting the Prophet”. The other case is of Rouhollah
Tavana; the Supreme Court
upheld his death sentence for “insulting the Prophet of Islam” in February
2014. He had been
sentenced to death on 3 August 2013 by Branch Five of the Criminal Court
in Khorasan in relation to
a video clip in which he allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The
Court also sentenced him to
imprisonment and flogging on charges of “alcohol consumption”, “making
alcoholic beverages” and
“illicit sexual relations”. A Revolutionary Court in Khorasan sentenced
him to a further three
years' imprisonment after convicting him of “insulting the founder of the
Revolution” and “insulting
the Supreme Leader”. See “Facing Death for ‘Insulting the Prophet’”
(http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/012/2014/en).
View the full Urgent Action here.
Name: Soheil Arabi (m)
Issues: Death penalty, Freedom of expression, Legal concern
UA: 298/14
Issue Date: 26 November 2014
Country: Iran
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!
EITHER send a short email to u...@aiusa.org with "UA 298/14" in the subject
line, and include in the
body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent,
OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.
Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action
Office if sending appeals
after the below date. If you receive a response from a government
official, please forward it to us
at u...@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Please write immediately in Persian, English, Spanish or your own
language:
* Calling on the Iranian authorities not to execute Soheil Arabi, and to
immediately establish an
official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing
the death penalty;
* Urging them to release Soheil Arabi if he is being held solely for
peacefully exercising his
right to freedom of expression and to uphold their obligations under
the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights to respect the right to freedom of
expression;
* Reminding them that under international human rights law, the death
penalty may only be used for
"the most serious crimes", which international bodies have interpreted
as being limited to
crimes involving intentional killing.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 JANUARY 2015 TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid
Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Twitter: @khamenei_ir
Email: info_lea...@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah SadeghLarijani
c/o Public Relations Office
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
(Subject line: FAO
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Hassan Rouhani
The Presidency
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: me...@rouhani.ir
Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and
@Rouhani_ir (Persian)
Also send copies to:
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead,
please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington DC 20007
Phone: 202 965 4990 I Fax: 202 965 1073 I Email: i...@daftar.org
Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/120ycjD
We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues!
When you share with your
networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please use the
"Forward this email to a friend"
link found at the very bottom of this email. Thank you for your activism!
UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. u...@aiusa.org
│amnestyusa.org/urgent
(source: Amnesty International)
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