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http://www.amnesty.org/en/alfresco_asset/0ecc2a90-d9a3-11dc-a340-29dd7d6e4103/mde130382008eng.html
PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/038/2008
12 February 2008
UA 38/08 Death sentence/Unfair trial/Torture
IRAN Ya'qub Mehrnehad (m), aged 28, member of Iran’s Baluchi minority
Baluchi cultural and civil rights activist Ya’qub Mehrnehad was sentenced
to death in early February, for an unknown offence, after an unfair trial
conducted behind closed doors. He has allegedly been tortured. His appeal
before the Supreme Court has been scheduled for 17 February, denying him
the minimum 20 days normally given in Iran for him to prepare his appeal.
His trial began on 25 December 2007 before a court in Zahedan, the capital
of Sistan-Baluchistan province. This may have been a special court set up
in the city in May 2006, and it is unclear if it operates as a branch of
the Revolutionary Court it would be governed by the General and
Revolutionary Court procedures, but it may be operating outside that
framework. Furthermore, in June 2006 it was announced that a “special
judicial complex for security affairs” had begun work and that a
recommendation had been made to the Judiciary to establish a branch of the
Supreme Court in the complex in order to expedite the implementation of
sentences and to reduce the time between the commission of crimes and the
implementation of sentences. Amnesty International is concerned that
Ya’qub Mehrnehad may be in imminent danger of execution.
Ya’qub Mehrnehad is the head of a government-registered NGO, The Voice of
Justice Young People’s Society, which specializes in organising events
such as concerts and educational courses for young Baluchi people. He was
arrested in early May 2007 along with five other members of the
association after they attended a meeting in the Provincial Office of
Culture and Islamic Guidance, which the Governor of Zahedan reportedly
attended. The five other men were later released. The exact reasons for
his arrest are not known although some newspaper reports in July 2007
mentioned that a man identified as Ya’qub M. was being detained on
suspicion of "aiding Abdolmalek Rigi", the head of a Baluchi armed group,
Jondallah, also known as the Iranian Peoples’ Resistance Movement.
Five months after his arrest, Ya’qub Mehrnehad was allowed visits from his
lawyer and his family, who said afterwards that he had been tortured, had
lost about 15kg and was unable to keep his balance.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iran’s Baluchi minority live mainly in the south-east of the country, and
are believed to make up between one and three percent of the total
population of around 70 million. Mainly Sunni Muslims, they have for many
years complained of discrimination by the authorities.
Jondallah has carried out a number of armed attacks on Iranian officials
and has sometimes taken hostages and killed them. It reportedly seeks to
defend the rights of the Baluchi people, though government officials have
claimed that it is involved in drug smuggling and terrorist activities and
has ties to foreign governments.
Attacks by Jondallah have been followed by widespread arrests of members
of the Baluchi minority. According to a 15 March 2007 BBC report,
Sistan-Baluchistan television said that at least two people had been
hanged in connection with a 14 February 2007 attack on a bus carrying
Revolutionary Guards. At least 17 other people are reported to have been
either sentenced to death or executed in connection with a March 2006
attack in Tasuki, in which up to 22 people were reportedly killed. In an
interview with the Iranian newspaper ‘Ayyaran on 17 March 2007,
parliamentarian Hossein Ali Shahryari said prisons in Sistan-Baluchistan
province held more than 700 people under sentence of death. In 2007, at
least 312 people were executed in Iran, and the true figure may be
considerably higher. There was a marked rise in the number of Baluchis
executed.
For further information please see: Iran: Human Rights Abuses against the
Baluchi Minority, MDE 13/104/2007, September 2007: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/104/2007.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible,
in Persian, English, French, Arabic or your own language:
- calling on the authorities not to carry out the death sentence against
Ya’qub Mehrnehad;
- asking for details of the charges against Ya’qub Mehrnehad and his
trial;
- expressing concern at reports that Ya’qub Mehrnehad has been tortured,
and has lost 15kg and cannot keep his balance as a result, and reminding
the authorities of their responsibility to ensure that he has access to
adequate medical treatment;
- 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.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme
Leader,
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic
Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah
Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic
Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
(via website) www.president.ir/email/
Speaker of Parliament
His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of
Iran
Fax: +98 21 3355 6408
Email: hadadadel@majlis.ir (Ask for your message to be passed to the
Article 90 Commission)
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat,
or your section office, if sending appeals after 25 March 2008.
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