Supreme Court Upholds “Qassameh” Death Sentence for Juvenile Offender

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Saleh Shariati, a prisoner in Adel Abad of Shiraz who was convicted of murder as a minor via “Qassameh,” one of Islamic Penal Code’s most tenuous methods of establishing guilt.

In the absence of sufficient evidence, a judge strongly persuaded of the defendant’s guilt can rule for conviction by Qassameh if enough of the victim’s male family members indict the defendant under oath. In Shariati’s case, 57 of the victim’s male family members — none of whom are legally required to have witnessed the crime — sealed his fate with their sworn testimonies.

Authorities reportedly extracted a confession from Shariati under the duress of torture. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, a US-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting human rights in Iran, recently published audio of a man identified as Shariati speaking on tape. The man’s voice can be heard recalling five years’ worth of forcibly extracted confessions.

“Had I committed a crime, I wouldn’t have stayed at the same address […],” Shariati’s recording continued. “I would have fled… I’ve been in limbo for five years now. Every day they have a different reason. It’s become unbearable. I’m thinking of harming myself [while I still have the chance].”

Initially barred from seeing his detained son, Shariati’s father believed he had been tortured when, visiting him in prison for the first time, he caught sight of suspect wounds on his son’s body.

The alleged murder took place in 2012 when the body of Rasoul Bahramnian was found at the bottom of a well whose entrance was left unsecured. Shariati, then 16, was the last known person to see Bahramian alive and alleged that he had fallen into the well. Authorities zeroed in on him as a murder suspect sixteen months later.

Iranian Authorities Execute Three Prisoners, Slate Four More for Gallows

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – State-run news agencies in Iran have yet to confirm the executions of three prisoners this morning, October 2nd, in Urmia: Salman Khan Alilou, Hassan Hajilou, and Zeinab Sekaanvand. Sekaanvand was executed for a crime she had allegedly committed as a minor.

Yesterday, Amnesty International released a statement expressing concern about Sekaanvand’s transfer to a solitary confinement cell, the protocol for prisoners whose death sentence is imminent. “The authorities must immediately quash Zeinab Sekaanvand’s conviction and grant her a fair retrial without recourse to the death penalty, and in accordance with principles of juvenile justice,” the statement read.

Sekaanvand, born June 22, 1994, was 17 when she was detained March 1, 2012, on accusations of killing her husband. Branch 2 of Urmia Criminal Court issued her a death sentence, which was confirmed in Branch 8 of the Supreme Court. Married in March of 2009 at the age of 15, Sekaanvand reportedly endured physical violence at the hands of her husband.

Having spent two years in Khoy Prison since her initial arrest, Sekaanvand was transferred to the Women’s Ward of Urmia prison after being issued the death sentence. Prison authorities would later approve her marriage to a fellow Urmia prisoner. She delivered a stillborn baby on Friday, October 1, [2016].

Yesterday, HRANA reported on the transfer of at least four prisoners — all of whom were reportedly charged with first-degree murder — to solitary cells in various detention centers across Urmia in preparation for their executions.

The same day, two more prisoners — Mousa Nomani from Ward 3-4 and Changiz Irani from the Psychotherapy Ward — were granted execution stays of one month and fifteen days, respectively, to attempt to obtain pardon from the families of their victims, which would exempt them from capital punishment.

According to Amnesty International’s annual report, Iran ranks first in the world in executions per capita. An annual report published by the Center of Statistics at Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) states that more than 60% of executions in Iran are not reported by the state or the Judiciary. These executions are referred to as “secret executions.”

According to registered data from 2,945 reports by the Statistics, Publications, and Achievements Division of HRAI, in the past year (from March 21, 2017, to March 18, 2018) at least 322 citizens were executed and 236 others were sentenced to death in Iran. Among these were the executions of four juvenile offenders and 23 public hangings.

“In The Name of the Non-Existent Justice” A letter from alleged juvenile offender after 21 years in prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Verya Saed Moochashmi has been detained in Karaj’s notorious Rajai Shahr Prison since he was 17. Convicted of aiding and abetting murder in 1998, he was sentenced to the death penalty and 80 lashes. This marks his 21st year behind bars.

In a letter obtained by HRANA, Mr Moochashmi remembers the incident that led to his conviction, stating that the murder was the unintended escalation of a clash initiated by an individual by the name of Shahram Jalali. Per an agreement with the victim’s family to pay damages (known as “blood money”) in exchange for a death row pardon, Mr Jalili had already paid half of the requested sum when he was executed in 2002. Esmaeil Hosseini, the other co-defendant, was released after serving three years and six months of his ten-year prison sentence.

The full text of Mr Moochashmi’s letter is below, translated into English:

In The Name of Non-Existent Justice

Behind prison bars from the age of 17 to now, the age of 40…Where is the justice?

I, Verya Saed Moochashmi, am a prisoner in Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison. When I was 14, to help my ageing father and my family, I left behind my city, my studies, and my home and came to Tehran. In 1998, I had been working as a laborer in Imam Khomeini International Airport for three years and I was about to turn 17 when I was convicted of aiding and abetting murder and sentenced to death and 80 lashes.

Yet in the skirmish that led to the murder of Mohammad Emami (the victim), the fighting and the killing were the work of Shahram Jalali — son of Jamal, born in Rabat Karim — and also another individual named Esmaeil Hosseini, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison but was freed after three years and six months. The principal defendant, Shahram Jalali, was executed in 2002 with the consent of the victim’s guardians, after having paid half of the blood money commensurate with the murder of a Muslim. I was innocent from the beginning, young and naive, illiterate, subject to the testimonies of my co-defendants which were totally baseless. The judge knows it, and yet I have been left in prison for 21 years.

Meanwhile not only have I lost my youth and my family, but I’ve also attempted suicide multiple times, documentation of which can be found in Imam Khomeini hospital.

All the while, the victim’s family has neglected the case and my situation in prison. Based on my requests and pursuant to Article 429, they’ve been repeatedly summoned but have refused to answer. Finally, in 2017, the assistant prosecutor, Mr Allahyari, summoned my family and me to post a bail of 2.2 billion rials [about $21,000 USD].

My family (of which only my brother remains) have done all they can to gather the money and post the bail. But a different assistant prosecutor has been named in the meantime, and the woman who now heads the department takes issue with Mr Allahyari’s terms and insulted my brother, calling him “backwards and worthless to society.” She said the process for the posting of bail and its payment now have to start anew.

A year has passed since then, and it’s now been 21 years since I’ve been in prison. Based on a law passed in 2013, minors can’t be sentenced to death, but I keep being punished and my case keeps getting ignored. As I approach 40, I am left with only one choice: declare a hunger strike to restore my rights and defend them until death. I want word to spread of the injustice that has been done to me; and for everyone to see their negligence of my case and the inconsiderate attitude of the new assistant prosecutor of the Branch 1, and how she has obstructed the process.

Is Article 429 not the law of the land? Have I not tried to have it followed four different times? How can a change of judge and assistant prosecutor (who get transferred among branches) mean a change in law? Where is the justice?

Who is going to be responsible for the waste of 21 years of my life? Is all this talk of justice a mere propaganda campaign, designed to deceive the media and public opinion?

Does the “principle of justice” serve merely to disparage and verbally abuse prisoners’ families, and for judges levelling insults at them, enforcing arbitrary sentences at their whim?

Verya Saed Moochashmi
Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison
August 17, 2018