Monitoring Human Rights in Iran Death sentences

February to April 30, 2004

Death sentences

4 young men killed in Kurdish regions

Peik-e Iran website, Apr. 1 - Government troops have killed four young men over the past several days in the cities of Mahabad, Piranshahr, Oroumieh and Salmas and outraged their residents.

Execution in Ahwaz

Jomhouri Islami daily, Apr. 6, Ahwaz – According to the information and public relations department of Khuzestan province's Justice Department, a man named Hadi H. was sentenced to death. The sentence was upheld by the country's Supreme Court and carried out at 7am yesterday in the yard of Karoun prison.

Amnesty: Iran one of top world executioners

Reuters, Apr. 6, Geneva – Amnesty International named Iran among the world's top users of the death penalty in 2003. AI noted that with 108 executions, Iran ranks second only to China with a much larger population.

Six executed

Radio Farda, Apr. 15 – The Democratic Party of Kurdistan in Iran said six of its members were executed in Iran's prisons. The Democratic Party of Kurdistan says the six persons were captured and detained seven years ago by an organization called the Islamic Movement of Iraq. They were on their way back to Iraq after finishing a mission in Iran. They were subsequently handed over to officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Young man executed in Rezvanshahr

Sharq daily, Apr. 18 – Mehdi, 25 years old was hanged in Rezvanshahr, on Friday morning.

Arrests, Tortures and inhumane punishments

Student prisoner sentenced to 10 years prison

Hambastegi website, Apr. 3 – Payman Piran was arrested in 2003 and condemned for acting against national security and creating anxiety in the public's mind. The autorities transferred Payman Piran to the Qasr prison's Andarzgah ward which is said to belong to agents involved in serial murders. The ward is infamous as "the ward of the wicked". According to Payman's father, he has become severely thin and weak because of poor conditions in the prison and physical and psychological torture.

Torture victims in Iran more than any other country

Radio Farda, Apr. 4 – The Medical Foundation of Torture Victims in Britain announced: "The number of torture victims in Iran is more than any other country." Andrew Hog, one of the officials of the Foundation said, "A large number of torture victims are from Iran. Several hundred Iranian victims of torture come to us every year. They have either been tortured in detention or in prison and the types of torture are mostly beating, intimidation and psychological tortures."

Tehran's clerics continue to rule by repression

The Observer, Apr. 4 – Ahmad Batebi's case illustrates how Iran's clerical establishment continues to rule through repression and fear. Dozens of other political prisoners languish in jails across the country. Human rights monitors say no one knows precisely how many because some families choose to suffer in silence…

Arzhang Davoudi, 49, was detained after meeting Batebi during his November leave.

Davoudi, speaking on a prison telephone last week, told The Observer he was beaten severely during his first days in detention, but had refused to apologize for his political activities or writings. 'I can't hear in one ear now because of the beatings and I have trouble seeing out of my left eye,' said Davoudi.

Youngster sentenced to flogging, prison, banishment

Jomhouri Islami daily, Apr. 15 – A young man was sentenced to flogging, prison and exile. He was sentenced to 74 whips, one year prison and six months banishment to the town of Shahreza in Isfahan. The young man had been arrested for stealing a few parts of a water heater.

Freedom of expression
Controversial Iranian judge wins award

AFP, Apr. 12, Tehran - Iran's hardline judiciary has given a "distinguished manager of the year" award to Tehran's notorious public prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, the student news agency ISNA reported Monday.

The report said Mortazavi, best known for his closure of pro-reform newspapers, was given the honour for his "efforts to elevate the goals of the Islamic republic, and the expansion and fairness of the judicial apparatus."…

More recently, he has come under the spotlight for his alleged role in the death in custody of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.

Biggest prison for press in the Middle East

Reporters without Borders, Apr. 16 - Reporters without Borders today voiced outrage at the UN Human Rights Commission's failure to condemn the Islamic Republic during its 60th session....
With 12 journalists detained, Iran is the biggest prison for the press in the Middle East.

9 movie stars sentenced to prison and flogging

Peik-e Iran website, Apr. 27 – On the order of Judge Hozan presiding the 1089th Branch of the penal court, nine movie stars, television actors and directors were sentenced to punitive prison terms, 74 lashes and payment of 500,000 toumans. They were also deprived from all artistic activities for three years.

Women

Women suicides in Iran

Radio Farda, Apr. 5 –More than 1,000 women committed suicide in one year in Golestan province, alone.
According to the social deputy of the Islamic Republic's Welfare Organization, the suicide rate has increased in Iran. The main reasons for the suicides are poverty and depression. Golestan province ranks third in the country for its rate of suicide. 1,041 suicides were reported last year alone. Most of the suicide victims were between 15 to 19 years old.

Iranian students in despair

Khorassan daily, Apr. 12 – The results of a research performed on 1,132 students show that 12.7% are disappointed with their lives, 15% believe that life isn't worth living and 8.2% have thought of committing suicide. 9.4% of the students have wished to die and get rid of this life and 5.7%are thinking of suicide. According to the research, suicide threatens 13.9% of the students surveyed.

600,000 Students addicted

Mehr news agency, Apr. 20 – A member of the Majlis Security Commission said: The figures given by experts of the Education Department -- on the number of addicted students in the schools being 350,000 -- are unreal. The actual numbers are much higher, in such a way that addiction currently skyrockets in schools. Hamid Reza Haj Babaii added: The actual number of addicted students is about 600,000. This rate is very high in comparison to the country's student population.

Asylum-seeker executed upon deportation to Iran

Siahkal website, Apr. 1 – The body of Ismail Yousefi, an Iranian asylum seeker who had been deported to Iran from Norway was found on February 28, two weeks after his forced deportation, with wounds and injuries on his skull. The reason for his death is still unclear. Martin T. Sam, director general of the Asylum Seekers Organization in Norway said, "Yousefi had requested asylum from Norway in 1999, which was turned down by the Norwegian government and he was repatriated to Iran in 2000. He announced when he returned to Norway in 2001 that he had been arrested and imprisoned in Iran after his first forced deportation.

Executions by hanging are carried out in Islamic Republic of ayatollahs in accordance with the Islamic "eye-for-an-eye" law of retribution, otherwise known as "qesas".

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