5 Arab political prisoners still under death shadow

HRANA News Agency – Despite the families of 5 Arab political prisoners who are sentenced to death are following their case in a continuous way, they have got no answer from the court.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), when the families went to the second branch of the revolutionary court of Ahwaz the authorities told them the intelligence ministry is deciding about them. Continue reading “5 Arab political prisoners still under death shadow”

HRW- Iran: Stop Execution of Ahwazi Arab Political Prisoners

HRANA News Agency – Human Rights Watch (London) – Iran’s judiciary should quash death sentences against five members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority and immediately cancel their execution, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. The sentences were handed down by a revolutionary court and upheld by the country’s Supreme Court on January 9, 2013.

The five men – Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and his brother Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka, Hashem Sha’bani Amouri, and Hadi Rashidi (or Rashedi) – are all activists in Iran’s Arab-majority Khuzestan province, in southwest Iran. A branch of the Revolutionary Court sentenced them to death on terrorism-related charges following an unfair trial in July 2012. On January 18, authorities informed families gathered outside Karoun Prison in the south-western city of Ahvaz that the five men had been transferred out of the prison. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Continue reading “HRW- Iran: Stop Execution of Ahwazi Arab Political Prisoners”

UK Foreign Secretary condemns Iran death sentences

William Hague said the Iranian government had shown an 'utter disregard for human rights' in several recent cases

HRANA News Agency –Iran’s “shameful” human rights record has been condemned by Foreign Secretary William Hague.

His comments follow the death sentences passed on five members of the Ahwazi Arab community last month, weeks after the secret execution of four others from the minority for “enmity against God”.

According to a report by Telegraph, Mr Hague warned Iran’s actions would not go unchallenged by the international community and said the abuses added to the regime’s isolation.

Mr Hague said Tehran had shown an “utter disregard for human rights” in a number of cases, including the death penalty carried out against Safieh Ghafouri, a woman convicted of murder, who was reportedly subjected to abuse and mistreatment including rape while in custody.

The Foreign Secretary said: “I am deeply disturbed by the human rights abuses perpetrated by Iran in recent months.

“The torture and sentencing to death of Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka, Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka,Hashem Sha’bani Amouri and Hadi Rashidi, from the Ahwazi Arab minority, comes less than a month after the secret execution in June of four other members of this minority group. This sets a very worrying trend.

“The shocking mistreatment in prison of Safieh Ghafouri and her sudden execution is yet a further example of Iran’s utter disregard for the most fundamental human rights.

“Sadly, these are not isolated incidents and many other Iranians are currently suffering at the hands of their government. Iran’s continued, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and political prisoners is a disgrace and stands as a shameful indictment of Iran’s leaders.

“The Iranian government should know that its systematic attempt to curtail the freedom of its citizens will not go unchallenged by the international community and only adds to its isolation.

“I call on Iran immediately to commute these death sentences, to stop torturing its citizens and to end the systematic persecution of its ethnic minorities.”