http://scenews.blog.com/5184794/

Stop Child Executions regretfully confirms the arrest of the Human and Child Rights Attorney Mohammad Mostafaei by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mr. Mostafaei who represents more than 25 Iranian juveniles facing execution has been imprisoned for 4 days now and has been able to contact his family twice from the prison.

Mr. Mostafaei has always been acting within the laws of the Islamic Republic representing clients or addressing violations of laws by the Islamic Republic of Iran and there are no legal grounds for his arrest. Mr. Mostafaei maintains a blog at http://mohegh.blogfa.com/.

SCE is extremely concerned about the status and well being of Attorney Mostafaei as well as the juveniles that he is supposed to be representing. Stop Child Execution is looking in to filling a legal complain with the United Nations about the illegal arrest of Mr. Mostafaei as well as contacting other authorities.
 

We urge that you contact the officials of the Islamic Republic and demand an immediate release of Mohammad Mostafaei. We also ask that readers, human rights activists and organizations to spread the news and also ask the government authorities of different countries and United Nations to also ask for release of Mr. Mostafaei.

Please send your requests to:

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office
Ardeshir Sadiq
Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office
No. 57, Pasteur St., corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue
Tehran, Iran
Email:                        info@dadiran.ir  (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation:                Your Excellency
 
Judiciary spokesperson
Alireza Jamshidi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737, Iran
Email:                      info@a-jamshidi.ir
Salutation:                Dear Sir
 
Supreme 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_leader@leader.ir
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Salutation:                                Your Excellency       
 
Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737, Iran
Fax:                           +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)
Email:                      info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Javad Larijani)
Salutation:              Dear Mr Larijani
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

Stop Child executions
www.stopchildexecutions.com
info@stopchildexecutions.com
http://scenews.blog.com

http://scenews.blog.com/5175983/

Four Iraqi youths could be executed at any moment. None have enjoyed legal aid or a fair trial.

PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 23/019/2009

UA 157/09
Death Penalty / Alleged juvenile offenders
18 June 2009

SAUDI ARABIA
Raid Halassa Sakit (m), aged about 20, Iraqi national
Abbas Fadil Abbas (m), aged 20, Iraqi national
Othman Ali (m), aged 20, Iraqi national
Aqil Matsher (m), aged 22, Iraqi national

The four Iraqi nationals named above are at risk of imminent execution for alleged offences reported to have been committed while they were below the age of 18. They were convicted and sentenced to death after unfair trials. All four were not given legal assistance or representation and they were sentenced after secret and summary trials. They all claim that they are innocent. They are held in Rafha prison, near the border with Iraq.

According to information received by Amnesty International, Raid Halassa Sakit was arrested and detained by the General Intelligence in the town of Rafha in 2005. He was charged and tried for drug-related offences and for links with armed groups in Iraq. He had been around 16 years old at the time of these alleged crimes. He was allegedly tortured by being subjected to electric shocks and then beaten until he signed a “confession” which, because he is illiterate, he could not read.

Raid Halassa Sakit was tried in secret without legal assistance by the Criminal Court in Rafha and was initially sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. According to a report received by Amnesty International, when the judge announced the sentence Raid Halassa Sakit insisted on his innocence, to which the judge apparently replied, “You had signed”, referring to the fact that he had signed a “confession”. When Raid Halassa Sakit told the judge that he had signed because of the torture the judge told him, “Such talk is of no benefit to you now”. When he was brought back to the same court two months later he was told that the Court of Cassation in Riyadh had increased the sentence to 20 years’ imprisonment. A month later Raid Halassa Sakit was again brought back to the Criminal Court in Rafha and informed that he was sentenced to death.

Because of the secrecy of the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International has been unable to obtain extensive details about the cases of the other three men. However, the organization has received reports that they were all aged between 15 and 18 at the time of their alleged crimes. Othman Ali and Aqil Matsher were arrested in 2004 and would have been around 15 years and 17 years old respectively at the time. Abbas Fadil Abbas is also reported to have been under 18 at the time of his arrest.

Prisoners in Saudi Arabia may be put to death without a scheduled date for execution being made known to them or their families. The four alleged juvenile offenders could be executed at any time.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Saudi Arabia is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which expressly prohibits the execution of juvenile offenders – those convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. However, Saudi Arabia continues to execute alleged juvenile offenders in breach of their obligations under international law (see press release issued on 11 May 2009, Saudi Arabia: Two juveniles executed by Saudi Arabian authorities among a group of five at http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/saudi-arabia-two-juveniles-executed-saudi-authorities-among-group-five-2).

At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007, and at least 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals, were executed in 2008. Since the beginning of 2009, a further 42 people are known to have been executed.

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences. Court proceedings fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception.

In a recent report on the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International highlighted the extensive use of the death penalty as well as the disproportionately high number of executions of foreign nationals from developing countries. For further information please see Saudi Arabia: Affront to Justice: Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia (Index: MDE 23/027/2008), published on 14 October 2008: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/saudi-arabia-executions-target-foreign-nationals-20081014

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Write a personally-worded appeal in Arabic, English or your own language

- urging the authorities to halt the execution of Raid Halassa Sakit, Abbas Fadil Abbas, Othman Ali and Aqil Matsher, all of whom may have been under 18 at the time of their alleged crimes;

- calling on the authorities to commute the death sentences of Raid Halassa Sakit, Abbas Fadil Abbas, Othman Ali and Aqil Matsher, particularly given Saudi Arabia’s obligations as a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

- reminding the authorities that they should act in accordance with international law, particularly Article 37 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and end the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders.

APPEALS TO:

His Majesty King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) 011 966 1 403 1185 (can be hard to reach)
Salutation: Your Majesty

His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
P.O. Box 2933, Airport Road
Riyadh 11134, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: 011 966 1 403 1185 (can be hard to reach)
Salutation: Your Royal Highness

COPIES TO:

Mr Abdullah Saleh A. Al Awwad
Chargé d’Affaires, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
201 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 1K6
Fax: (613) 237-0567

Mr Bandar Mohammed Abdullah Al Aiban
President, Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 58889, King Fahad Road, Building No. 373
Riyadh 11515, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: 011 966 1 461 2061
Email: hrc@haq-ksa.org

http://scenews.blog.com/5163427/

http://scenews.blog.com/5153849/

http://scenews.blog.com/5107298/

http://scenews.blog.com/5102741/

Debate Over Child Executions Eoils Iran's Presidential Vote
By Farnaz Fassihi

TEHRAN, Iran -- The day before two of his young clients were to be hanged, lawyer Mohamad Mostafaei went to a Justice Ministry office here to request a stay of execution.
for the rest of the article please go to:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355320443064445.html

http://scenews.blog.com/5089836/

http://scenews.blog.com/5088962/

http://scenews.blog.com/5071404/

Although his lawyer Mr. Mohammad Mostafaei has not receive official notice of the execution date, he was informed by Mohammadreza’s father that he is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday May 27^th at Adelabad prison in Shiraz where he has been imprisoned for the last 4 years.

Eighteen year old Mohammdreza Haddadi was sentenced to death by hanging for an alleged murder at the age of 15. His appeal was denied by the superior court and the file was sent to the division of enforcement of verdicts for final execution permit by Ayatollah Shahrudi, the head of Iran's judiciary.

Mohammad Reza Haddadi, aged 18, is held in Adelabad prison in the city of Shiraz. He was sentenced to death in January 2004 by a court in Kazeroun for the murder of a man in 2003. He had confessed to the murder, but retracted the confession during his trial, saying he had claimed responsibility for the killing because his two co-defendants had offered his family money if he did so. Mohammad Reza Haddadi stated during the trial that he had not taken part in murder of a man who had offered him and the two others a lift in his car. The two others later supported Mohammad Reza Haddadi's claims of innocence, and withdrew their testimony that implicated him in the murder. His co-defendants, both over 18 at the time of the crime, are said to have received lesser sentences. However, in July 2005, a branch of the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against Mohammad Reza Haddadi and later authorized by Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of Iran's Judiciary.

Background:

Mohammad Reza's execution order was reported for the first time by Stop Child Executions Campaign in January 12, 2008 . At the time no details were available until the new attorney Mohammad Mostafaei met Mohammadreza in Shiraz prison in the first week of February 2008. Subsequent to the initial report by SCE, the president of the European Union on behlaf of 42 countries listed Mohammadreza's name in its letter to Iranian authorities condemning the execution order. (Januray 25, 2008). 

In a recent letter to Shahrudi, Mohammad Mostafaei detailed the incident and the flaws in the judicial processing of the case. According to the testimony of Karim Haddadi :

“ Mohammadreza Haddadi was accompanied by 3 adults: Mohammad Ghorbani, Karim Haaddai and his cousin Taghi Haddadi. They asked an old man to drive them to neighboring city and along the way when the driver stopped to fill the car radiator with water, Taghi Haddadi hit the driver in the head with a rock. According to Taghi they all beat the driver and dragged his body to the trunk of the car and drove away. According to the testimony, when they heard that the man was still alive, Taghi stoped the car and Mehdi hit the man with a piece of wood in the head. Karim testified that Taghi and 15 year old Mohammadreza strangled the man.  Then they burned the body and buried it. After the arrest, Mohammadreza confess to murdering the man. 

Following one of the court sessions he asked his mother if she had received a substantial amount of money promised to him by the three other men in return for his confession. After finding out that no money was given to his mother, he stated that he was lead to confession by the adults and  had nothing to do with the crime..

Regardless the court decided that  Mohammadreza was guilty of murder. He was sentenced to death while the three adults were sentenced to long imprisonments. 

Despite the fact that the other men later testified that Mohammadreza was innocent of the crime, his appeal was still denied and the execution order was confirmed . Th file was sent to division of enforcement of verdicts. The file incorrectly showed Mohammad's age at the time of murder as 19 instead of 15.  In his letter, Mostafaei asked Shahrudi to order further review of the file based on the retracted testimony of others.

Mohammadreza Haddadi was scheduled to be executed on October 9^th 2008, but his execution was stayed by Ayatollah  Shahrudi.

Considering Mohammad Reza's age at the time, it was highly unlikely that the murder was planned and executed by the 15 year old instead of the other adults involved in the crime.. It is likely that Mohammad was "influenced" and taken advantage of by the adults, due to his immaturity in confessing to the crime in hopes of that due to his young age, the verdict would be more lenient.

Stop Child Executions Campaign recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offenses, but is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances especially for those person guilty of crimes committed before the age of 18.

SCE has informed the High Commission on Human Rights at the United Nations and other international bodies.

For read more about Mohammad Reza visit: http://scenews.blog.com/Mohammadreza%20Haddadi/

 

Please  send urgent appeals

- calling on the authorities to commute his death sentence, as he is facing execution for a crime committed when he was under 18 which in accordance with Iran’s obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is against international human rights law.

APPEALS TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

c/o Director, Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

Ardeshir Sadiq

Judiciary Public Relations and Information Office

No. 57, Pasteur St., corner of Khosh Zaban Avenue

Tehran, Iran

Email:                     info@dadiran.ir  (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation:           Your Excellency

 

Judiciary spokesperson

Alireza Jamshidi

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737, Iran

Email:                    info@a-jamshidi.ir

Salutation:           Dear Sir

 

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_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)

Salutation:                           Your Excellency       

 

 

COPIES TO:

Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran

Mohammad Javad Larijani

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737, Iran

Fax:                         +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)

Email:                    info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Javad Larijani)

Salutation:          Dear Mr Larijani

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

http://scenews.blog.com/5060526/

According to Iranian newspapers, an unidentified 20 years boy convicted of a murder in August of 2006 was hanged in the central city of Shiraz.  He was probably 17 at the time of the alleged murder. Stop Child Execution will be investignating his age and identity. If a juvenile, this would be the third known child executions in 2009.

According to SCE records the following juveniles are awaiting execution in Shiraz:

Abumoslem Sohrabi,  Amir Amrollahi, Hojjat Haydari, Mohammad Jahedi, Mohammad M., Mohammadreza Haddadi, Rahim Ahmadi, Ramdar and Reza. Those marked in red are on imminent execution list.

http://scenews.blog.com/5024589/

About Hannah Bahmanpour (Canada)

Hannah was born in Tehran, but her parents immigrated to Canada when she was seven years old, in hopes of liberty and a better future. Since childhood she has known that she wants to spend her life advocating and helping others in the fight for human rights.

Currently, Hannah is completing her undergrad in a Bachelor of Honours in Criminology, and hopes to continue by obtaining a Masters degree in public policy or international relations and finally pursuing a law degree.  In addition, she is an executive member of the Criminology Society, a member of AIDWYC (Association in the Defence for the Wrongly Convicted), a police auxiliary officer and a certified mediator working on the Iranian Family Well-Being Project.

After hearing about Nazanin Afshin-Jam’s work to save Nazanin Fatehi from execution, Hannah felt certain that this was the direction she wanted her life to head towards.  She will be managing the SCE twitter and Iranian.com blog and is working towards expanding SCE to facilitate a group of volunteers in Toronto. 

Hannah says: “With all of the hard work and continuous fight for justice, I am optimistic that we will see change in the near future!”

To meet other SCE Team Volunteers visit:  http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/about_us.aspx
To join SCE visit: http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/joinus.aspx

http://scenews.blog.com/5015060/

Iran Human Rights Voice

About 1,500 social activists in Iran issued a statement in which they called for an end to the execution of criminals below the age of 18.
 
The statement called capital punishment of convicts below the age of 18 who have not reached adulthood and are incapable of properly distinguishing rights from wrong cruel, unfair and inhuman.  Part of the statement said:
-          Relying on the cry of conscience,
-          In unison, with learning from the international human society,
-          Underscoring the need for widespread education,
-          In unison with many Islamic countries who have accepted the rule that each life is precious and act in that regard,
-          Following the international convention to support the rights of children,
-          Realizing that important factors in social ills within our society are rooted in economical, social and political conditions,
-          Accepting the order that, while prevention methods must be prioritized, in the mean time these sorts of social crimes must be judicially dealt with using less severity and that the choice of a form of punishment must be adjusted based on ages and conditions of criminals,
-          And by a fair and free elected council of people;
We claim and state that people under 18 must not be executed and they should be given new opportunities to be rehabilitated, their growth must be nurtured and their employment supported in their movement toward a better life style.

http://scenews.blog.com/4980285/