URGENT APPEAL for Habibollah Latifi at risk of imminent execution in Iran

The execution of Habibollah Latifi, a male member of the Kurdish minority in Iran, was postponed on 26 December 2010, just hours before it was scheduled to take place. Over 20 people were arrested at his house later that day. 10 remained detained as of 6 January and may be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

The execution of Habibollah Latifi, an industrial engineering student at Ilam University, was not carried out on 26 December 2010, as scheduled. He was convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God), a vaguely-worded charge which can carry the death penalty, in connection with his membership of and alleged activities on behalf of the Kurdish Independent Life Party (PJAK), a proscribed armed group. Members of his family and civil society activists from Sanandaj had gathered outside the city’s prison to protest against the execution when, in the early hours of 26 December, a prison official announced it would not take place. No date has been fixed for the execution to go ahead and Amnesty International believes that Habibollah Latifi remains at risk of execution.

Following the postponement of the execution, family members and activists gathered at the Latifi household, when up to 50 members of the security forces raided the house and arrested seven members of the Latifi family, along with around 17 others. By 30 December 2010, the members of his family had been released on bail of around 220 million Iranian rials or around 21,000 US dollars, each. On 6 January 2011, an NGO activist and a journalist were also released, but 10 of those arrested at the Latifi household remained in detention. Amnesty International fears they may face torture or other ill-treatment while in detention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Habibollah Latifi is an industrial engineering student at Ilam University. He was arrested on 23 October 2007 in Sanandaj and sentenced to death on 3 July 2008 following trial by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court. He was convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God), a vaguely-worded charge which can carry the death penalty, in connection with his membership of and alleged activities on behalf of the Kurdish Independent Life Party (PJAK), a proscribed armed group.

On 27 December 2010, his lawyer reportedly said that the trial was not held behind closed doors and that he was able to defend his client. He also stated that an appeal court had reviewed the judgement and that he had no complaint about it. He added that he has also made two further requests for a judicial review, one of which was refused; another of which remains to be clarified. He stated that the temporary halt to the execution of Habibollah Latifi was due to judicial procedure in Iran.

The members of the Latifi family detained were his father, Abbas Latifi, sisters Shahin, Elahe and Bahar; brothers Iraj and Eghbal and a relative called Jian Matapour.

Those who continue to be held as of 6 January 2011 are journalist Saeed Saedi; workers’ rights activists Pedram Nasrollahi, Hashem Rostami and Zahed Moradian; students and students’ rights activists Deler Eskandari and Jawad Andaryari, the latter a PhD student in chemistry at Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan; civil society activists Jian Zafari, Yahya Ghawami and Hiwa Masoudi along with environmental rights activist Hamid Malakolkalami.

Journalist Mahmoud Mahmoudi and environmental rights activist Afshin Sheikholeslami Watani were released on 6 January 2011 on bail of 40 million touman, or over 38 thousand US dollars.

On 27 December 2010, the website Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that the death sentences of three other Kurdish prisoners - Iraj Mohamadi, Ahmad Pouladkhani, and Mohamad Amin Aghoshi - had been overturned. However, two other political prisoners Ali Saremi, also convicted of moharebeh for his alleged membership of another banned organization, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (see UA update MDE 13/002/2011, 05 January 2011), and Akbar Siyadat, convicted of espionage for Israel, were executed without warning in Tehran on 28 December 2010.

Kurds are one of Iran’s many minority groups and live mainly in the west and north-west of the country, in the province of Kordestan and neighbouring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. They experience discrimination.

For many years, Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Marxist group Komala, have conducted armed opposition against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Another armed group, the Kurdistan Independent Life Party (PJAK), formed in 2004, continues to carry out armed attacks against Iranian security forces. However, on 19 October 2010, PJAK leaders called for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Iran, though in December 2010 PJAK reportedly threatened to break their ceasefire if Habibollah Latifi was executed.

The scope of capital crimes in Iran is broad. The death penalty is one of four possible punishments for those convicted of moharebeh, a charge often brought against those accused of armed opposition to the state. Other capital crimes include other national security offenses such as espionage.

On 21 December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed, by a vote of 78 for; 45 against, along with 59 abstentions, a resolution expressing deep concern at the widespread violations of human rights in Iran.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

- Welcoming the postponement on 26 December 2010 of Habibollah Latifi’s execution;

- Calling on the Iranian authorities to commute the death sentence of Habibollah Latifi;

- Stating that Amnesty International recognizes that governments’ have a responsibility to bring to justice those who commit crimes, in full conformity with international standards for fair trial, but opposes the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;

- Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained on 26 December 2010 at the Latifi household if they were arrested solely for their presence at the gathering, and urging the authorities to ensure that they are protected from all forms of torture or other ill treatment while in detention.

APPEALS 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: 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

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

Office of the Head of the Judiciary

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

Tehran, 1316814737

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Governor of Kordestan Province

Esmail Najjar

Email:

In English, French or other languages, use the feedback form on the website: http://en.ostan-kd.ir/Default.aspx?TabID=59

In Persian and Kurdish, send via feedback form on the website: http://www.ostan-kd.ir/Default.aspx?tabId=150&cv=4@0_1

Salutation: Dear Governor

Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:

Iranian Interests Section

2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW

Washington DC 20007

Fax: 1 202 965 1073

Email: requests@daftar.org

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Comments

Iran: Flogging still a common practice

Flogging of Sufis in Gonabad: Fourteen Ne’matollahi dervishes received 25 lashes each for allegedly disturbing the public security "The lash ruling against 14 Ne'matollahi dervishes of Gonabad was carried out. They were residents of Baydokht and had been arrested and condemned by the Public Prosecutor of Gonabad after a protest against the illegal treatment dealing with the Sufis in June of last year [2010]. According to the website of Majzuban-e-Nur, Mr. Sa'id Kashani, Mr. Amir Roshan-Mojaver-Sufi, Mr. Alimohammad Amanian, Mr. Ruhollah Safari, Mr. Ali Abbasi-Baydokhti, Mr. Ebrahim Abbaszadeh, Mr. Mohammadali Ja'fari, Mr. Hossein Mahdavi, Mr. Hossein Abbaszadeh-Baydokhti, Mr. Rahmat Hosseini, Mr. Reza Kakhki, Mr. Behruz Mojaver-Sufi, Mr. Ali Mir, and Mr. Hassan Baluchi-Baydokhti are the fourteen dervishes whose requests were not only rejected, but who were condemned to 25 lashes for disturbing the public security. It should be mentioned that Ruhollah Safari, the ...

Japan’s Internet Wants Uchida Riko Executed. Here’s Why That Won’t Happen

This week, the prosecution in the case of a murder of a 17-year-old girl in Hokkaido came out with its sentencing recommendation. Japanese social media reacted by clamoring for the accused woman’s blood. But, while the facts of the case are heinous, the prosecutor’s decision not to seek the death penalty is grounded in long-standing precedent. Murdered for looking at the accused wrong Uchida Riko (内田梨瑚), 23, and her friends stand accused of murdering 17-year-old Murayama Runa (村山瑠奈) in Hokkaido’s Asahikawa. Prosecutors say the dispute began after Murayama posted a photo of Uchida to social media. They say Uchida’s group abducted the girl, made her undress, and then forced her to jump from a bridge.

Kansas AG urges governor to deny clemency to 8 sentenced to death

TOPEKA — Attorney General Kris Kobach on Tuesday urged the governor to deny clemency to Kansas inmates who have been sentenced to death. Eight of nine people sentenced to death in Kansas formally filed clemency requests in May, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. Kobach urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject them.

Two men executed with AK-47 for raping and murdering boy, 12, in Yemen as children watch on

“Public execution is an even more grotesque violation of human rights, particularly in a country where the ability of the accused to obtain adequate legal representation and the coverage of the process is highly limited.” -- Human Rights Watch director Sarah Leah Whitson TWO pedophiles have been executed with AK-47s in front of a bloodthirsty crowd for raping and murdering a 12-year-old boy in Yemen. Chilling images show Wadah Refat and Mohamed Khaled being marched at gunpoint through the port city of Aden. Yemen is one of the few countries in the world where capital punishment is legal, and even children were in attendance to watch the gruesome event. Refat, 28, and Khaled, 31, were condemned for the abduction, rape, and murder of a young boy who was snatched after playing next to the house of one of the men. The pair reportedly dragged him into their home and raped him. When sentencing the pair, The Daily Star reported that the judge said, "After ...

I watched Ohio's last execution. Here's what it was like

As Gov. DeWine calls for Ohio to end capital punishment, the state’s last execution remains the one I witnessed in 2018 Inside Ohio's death house, there is a room for executions and separate witness rooms: one for those connected to the victim and another for those connected to the inmate. Windows separate the death chamber from those watching, the condemned from the living. I was there on July 18, 2018 – during Ohio’s most recent execution. Robert Van Hook was put to death that day for killing David Self in 1985. He sat on death row for three decades. I was one of three media witnesses to the execution.

New Mississippi billboard warns criminals: ‘Firing squad is legal’

DESOTO COUNTY, Miss. (WREG) — A billboard standing on Interstate 55 southbound as you cross the Tennessee state line and enter Mississippi from Memphis is sending a grim message to those coming into the state. DeSoto County District Attorney Matthew Barton recently announced the new billboard campaign, which features the sign reading, “WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI. WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD IS LEGAL. THINK TWICE.” It references Mississippi’s law permitting execution by firing squad under certain circumstances for inmates sentenced to death. Barton says this campaign is aimed at deterring violent crime and sends a direct message to criminals entering Mississippi.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Kuwait executes five convicted murderers after death sentences upheld by highest courts

Dubai: Kuwait has executed five men convicted of murder and other serious crimes after their death sentences were upheld by the country's highest courts and ratified by the Emir, the Public Prosecution said. The executions were carried out by hanging at the Central Prison after all legal procedures had been completed, according to a statement carried by local media. The public prosecution said the convicts had been granted all constitutional guarantees, including the right to defense and appeal throughout the investigation and trial process.

Gov. Mike DeWine calls for Ohio to abolish the death penalty

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday morning called on Ohio to abolish the death penalty, citing data that he said proves it is no longer a deterrent to violent crime. “For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, there must be evidence that in doing so it will help protect the public, that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder,” DeWine said. “I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made.” DeWine cited data showing a decline in the last four decades of executions being carried out and an increase in the time inmates spend on death row.

Iran | Youth Hanged for Murder Based on Qassameh Ceremony

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 19 June 2026: Pejman Saedi, a Kurdish man convicted of murder based on a qassameh ceremony after being exonerated, was executed in Qorveh Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Qorveh Prison on 12 January 2026. His identity has been established as Pejman Soltani, a 21-year-old Kurdish man from Dehgolan. He was arrested around three years ago and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog