September 23
BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh considers capital punishment for driving deaths
The cabinet on Monday will consider for traffic accident deaths, a official
said, as thousands of students held for a 9th day over the deaths of 2
teenagers by a speeding bus.
Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding
changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18
million, after the 2 teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran
over a group of students on July 29.
"In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of
punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official,
who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a
decision.
The current punishment is a maximum jail term of 3 years. Using the death
penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's
transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged
from 14 years in the UK in extreme cases to 2 years in India.
Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his
brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus
drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based
on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours.
"Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum
of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who
was injured while protesting on Saturday.
Amid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the US ambassador to
Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles,
the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but 2 vehicles were
damaged.
The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the
students protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.
Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the US
ambassador came under attack.
(source: glenwoodguardian.com)
IRAN----executions
9 Prisoners Hanged at Shiraz Prison
9 prisoners were hanged at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz on the charge of rape.
According to the state-run news agency, Mizan, on the morning of Saturday,
September 22, 9 prisoners were executed at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz. The
prisoners were sentenced to death on the charge of rape.
There is no information regarding the time of their arrest or the proceedings
of their case, but according to the state-run media, the defendants were
identified as Abdolkhaleq Safaiy, Ali Akbar Haqiqi, Ali Shah Alian, Hamidreza
Safaiy, Behnam Roustaiy, Ehsan Safaiy, Mohammadreza Safaiy, Davoud Zareiy, and
Mehdi Zamani.
According to the reports, the defendants sexually harass a woman in a villa,
however, the reports mentioned that 3 women were harassed but the other 2 did
not file a complaint.
************************
A Brief Look at an Executed Political Prisoner's Case
Mohammad Abdollahi, a political prisoner, was hanged along with four other
people at Urmia Central Prison in August 2016. After 3 years, Iran Human Rights
has obtained some pieces of evidence indicating multiple violations in the
judicial proceedings of his case. We interviewed one of Mohammad Abdollahi's
relatives under the pseudonym Ali. It should be noted that the burial place of
the defendant has not been announced to his family yet.
Mohammad Abdollahi was shot and arrested by the Revolutionary Guards in Mahabad
in March 2010.
One of his relatives, aka Ali, told IHR, "We went to Almahdi Detention Center
several times but they told us that Mohammad was not there and threatened us
not to look for him."
He added, "The Revolutionary Guards beat him badly while he was already injured
and bleeding. His right hand, left leg, and three of his teeth broke under
torture. Mohammad was interrogated and tortured in the solitary confinement for
three months until he had internal bleeding and was transferred to Mahabad
Prison."
Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that
Mohammad Abdollahi had entered Iran along with some members of Komalah and was
involved in an armed conflict that led to the murder of 3 police officers.
However, Ali says, "Mohammad never admitted to involvement in the armed
conflict, possession of any weapons, and cooperation with Komalah, the only
thing they found on him was a membership card of Komalah. Nonetheless, he was
sentenced to death on the charge of "Moharebeh and membership of Komalah" in
September 2013."
He added, "His lawyers believed that he would be saved from death. He didn't
even make a false confession under torture. But Judge Javadi Kia told him that
he would do everything in his power to have him executed."
Mohammad Abdollahi was finally transferred to Urmia Central Prison after his
verdict was issued in April 2014. He protested against the verdict and his case
was investigated at branch 27 of the Supreme Court.
Mostafa Ahmadian, his appointed lawyer, had told HRANA news agency, "There are
many problems with the case. My client wasn';t treated with justice. He had
never touched a gun."
Mr. Ahmadian explained, "We made an appeal and it was sent to the same court
that had issued the death sentence while it should have been sent to a parallel
court."
Finally, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death again and
the Supreme Court accepted the verdict.
Mohammad Abdollahi was executed along with 4 other prisoners, named Kamran
Pourfat, Tohid Pourmahdi, Amir Azizi, Jahangir Razavizadeh, and Jebraeel
Kan’ani at Urmia Central Prison on August 9, 2016.
Ali stated, "Judge Javadi Kia finally did what he wanted to do and got him
executed...they told him to write a repentance letter but he refused and said
that he hadn’t done anything to repent of."
IHR has obtained some evidence that confirms there are no confessions or pieces
of evidence in Mohammad Abdollahi's case proving the accusations - except for
the claims of the security forces.
Now after 3 years, Mohammad Abdollahi's family don't know where his burial
place is, although, they asked the authorities about it several times.
(source for both: Iran Human Rights)
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