URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa11312.pdf
UA 113/12
Issue Date: 26 April 2012
Country: Iran
IRANIAN-CANADIAN FACING EXECUTION IN IRAN
A man with dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, appear to
be at imminent risk of
execution. His family was told on 15 April that his death sentence had been
passed to the body
within the Judiciary that carries out executions.
Hamid Ghassemi-Shall was arrested on 24 May 2008 while visiting his elderly
mother in Iran. His
older brother, Alborz Ghassemi-Shall, have been arrested about two weeks
earlier. Both brothers were
held in solitary confinement without legal representation, in Tehran's Evin
prison for 18 months; in
November 2009 the brothers were transferred to a section of the prison holding
other prisoners.
On 29 December 2008 both men were sentenced to death following an unfair trial
by a Revolutionary
Court. They were convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God) for espionage and
cooperation with the
proscribed People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). Amnesty
International understands that
the evidence used against the brothers during trial included a "confession" and
an email the
authorities alleged Hamid Ghassemi-Shall had sent to his brother Alborz
Ghassemi-Shall, who had
previously worked as a mechanical engineer in the Iranian army, which he denied
sending. On 7
November 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. In January 2010 Alborz
Ghassemi-Shall, who was
suffering from stomach cancer, died in prison.
Hamid Ghassemi-Shall have said that while in Evin Prison, before he had access
to legal
representation, he was under "extreme pressure" to "confess". "Confessions"
made under torture are
frequently accepted as evidence in Iranian courts, violating the right to a
fair trial. The Iranian
authorities had previously threatened to arrest the brothers' sister Mahin
Ghassemi-Shall, who has
since died, for speaking out on behalf of her brother.
Please write immediately in Persian, English or your own language:
- Urging the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of Hamid Ghassemi-Shall;
- Urging them to retry him in proceedings which fully comply with international
fair trial standards
and without recourse to the death penalty;
- Calling on them to ensure that Hamid Ghassemi-Shall is given immediate and
regular access to his
family, his lawyer and any necessary medical treatment.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 JUNE 2012 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
Email: info_lea...@leader.ir
Twitter: "Call on #Iran leader @khamenei_ir to halt the execution of Hamid
Ghassemi-Shall"
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
[Care of] Public Relations Office
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection
Tehran
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: bia.j...@yahoo.com (Subject
Line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: i...@humanrights-iran.ir (subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani
**Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please
send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
c/o Embassy of Pakistan
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Tel: 1 202 965 4990 -OR- 1 202 965-4991
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: reque...@daftar.org
Please check with AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above
date.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's wife, Antonella Mega, who lives in Canada, told Amnesty
International on 20
April 2012 that her husband had called her on 15 April, and told her that his
mother and his sister,
Parvin Ghassemi-Shall, had been allowed to visit him at Evin Prison earlier
that day. They had met
in the office of a judge from the Office for the Implementation of Sentences.
His mother and sister
told him that another sister, Mahin Ghassemi-Shall, had died following an
illness. The judge, who
was present, immediately told the grieving family that Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's death
sentence was "on
his table" and that he was awaiting orders from Tehran Province's Chief
Prosecutor to carry out
Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's execution.
There were serious flaws in the fairness of the brothers' trial. They were held
for months
undergoing interrogation but without access to legal representation. Access to
a lawyer from the
outset of detention is essential to ensuring a fair trial. International fair
trial standards
require that anyone accused of a serious crime has access to a lawyer not only
during the trial
itself, but also immediately on arrest and throughout all subsequent
proceedings, in particular in
cases of offences carrying the death penalty. At the beginning of their
interrogation and in court,
the brothers denied the charges and the only evidence produced in the trial
appears to have been the
disputed email and a "confession" made by Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, apparently
under duress, that he had
obtained confidential military information from his brother. Under
international law, no one should
be forced to confess guilt; international law also prohibits the use of
confessions extracted under
torture as evidence except against those who carry out such torture.
The brothers were sentenced to death on the basis of Article 186 of Iran's
Penal Code. It states
that members and supporters of a group which has "waged armed struggle against
the Islamic State are
regarded to be moharebs provided they know the position of that group; are in
active pursuit of
their aims while the central [structure] of that organization or group exists."
The article applies
to all members and supporters of such groups even though they may not have
taken up arms.
The PMOI is a banned opposition group based in Iraq which advocates the
overthrow of the Iranian
government. The PMOI has previously engaged in armed action against the Iranian
government.
The Iranian authorities resort extensively to the imposition of the death
penalty, with over 600
executions reported in the country from official and unofficial sources in
2011. So far this year,
the Iranian authorities have acknowledged the execution of at least 85 people,
19 of them put to
death in public. Amnesty International has received credible reports of 41
other executions which
were not officially acknowledged, mostly of people convicted of drugs offences.
Among others in Iran
feared to be facing imminent execution are Habibollah Golparipour, Zaniar
Moradi, Loghman Moradi
(all members of Iran's Kurdish minority) Abd al-Rahman Heidari, Taha Heidari,
Jamshid Heidari,
Mansour Heidari, and Amir Muawi (or Mo’avi), Aref Hamidian (all members of
Iran's Ahwazi Arab
minority), Abdolreza Ghanbari and Saeed Malekpour. For further information
regarding the use of the
death penalty in Iran in 2011, see Amnesty International: Death Sentences and
Executions in 2011,
(MDE ACT 50/001/2012), 27 March 2012,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT50/001/2012/en.
The UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the
International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), expressing concern at the large numbers of death
sentences and
executions, has called on the Iranian authorities to "consider abolishing the
death penalty or at
least revise the Penal Code to restrict the imposition of the death penalty to
only the 'most
serious crimes'" which it has interpreted to mean intentional crimes with
lethal consequences. The
UN Human Rights Committee also stated its concern about the use of solitary
confinement in Iran.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception
as the ultimate
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and as a violation of the right to
life, and is calling for
all death sentences in Iran to be overturned or commuted.
Name: Hamid Ghassemi-Shall (m)
Issue(s): Risk of imminent execution, Legal concern, Torture
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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact
information and stop action
date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
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Email: u...@aiusa.org
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Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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