Skip to main content

URGENT ACTION APPEAL for Sherko Moarefi, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, at imminent risk of execution in Iran

Sherko Moarefi, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, was not executed on 1 May, as had been widely expected.  However, his sentence has now been sent for implementation, the final stage of the process, and he could be executed at any time. 

Sherko Moarefi had been informally told by prison officials that he would be executed on 1 May 2011, but  never received official confirmation of this. He went on hunger strike on 28 April 2011 to protest his  "unknown and unspecific" legal circumstances, though he has since ended his hunger strike. On 27 April 2011, Sherko Moarefi's file was sent it to the Office for the Implementation of Sentences (OIS) in Saqqez, in the north-western province of Kordestan after Branch 27 of the Supreme Court had upheld Sherko Moarefi's death sentence for a second time. His lawyer has said that steps have been taken to bring procedural irregularities to the attention of the court, but that as the case has passed to the OIS, the sentence could be implemented at any time. 

Sherko Moarefi was arrested in October 2008 in the village of Dowlat Ghaleh near Saqqez, after which he was sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court. Amnesty International has for many years raised concerns about the fairness of trials before Revolutionary Courts in Iran. Sherko Moarefi was sentenced to death for "acting against national security" and "enmity against God" for his alleged links to Komala, a banned Kurdish opposition group. The sentence was upheld on appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court. 

Another Kurdish political prisoner, Habibollah Latifi, remains at risk of execution after his execution scheduled for 26 December 2010 was called off at the last minute after domestic and international pressure (see UA 271/09, and follow ups). He is an industrial engineering student at Ilam University in western Iran convicted of membership of and alleged activities on behalf of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), another proscribed armed group. At least 14 other Kurdish political prisoners are known to be on death row. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
Sherko Moarefi's death sentence was upheld first by an Appeal Court and then by the Supreme Court. His court-appointed lawyer stated in an interview on 18 October 2009 that his request to the Amnesty and Clemency Commission had been rejected and that he had applied for a judicial review. This, too, was denied. Sherko Moarefi was told verbally in March that his execution was scheduled for 1 May, but his lawyers were never officially informed. Under Iranian law lawyers must be notified 48 hours prior to the implementation of the death penalty for a client. He went on hunger strike on 28 April 2011 to protest his "unknown and unspecific" legal circumstances, though he has since ended his hunger strike. His family was able to visit him on 3 May 2011. 

Kurds, who are one of Iran's many minority groups, 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 in the enjoyment of their religious, economic and cultural rights (see: Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority, 30 July 2008 at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/088/2008/en ). For many years, Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Marxist group Komala conducted armed struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran, although neither currently does so. An alleged member of the KDPI, Farhad Tarom, was reported by Kurdish sources to have been executed in February 2011. A further group, the Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), was formed in 2004, and carried out armed attacks against Iranian security forces, but declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2009, although it still engages in armed clashes with security forces in what it terms "self-defence". Hossein Khezri, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority, is feared to have been executed on 15 January 2011 in north-western Iran after being convicted of "enmity against God" on account of his membership of PJAK. The authorities announced that a PJAK member was executed on 15 January 2011 but did not name the individual. On 16 January 2011, PJAK issued a statement pledging an "appropriate response" to what they clearly believe to have been Hossein Khezri's execution and calling for a week of "resistance" to Iran. 

Amnesty International condemns without reservation attacks on civilians, which includes judges, clerics, and locally or nationally-elected officials, as attacking civilians violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. These principles prohibit absolutely attacks on civilians as well as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Such attacks cannot be justified under any circumstances. 

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. At least 13 other Kurdish men and one Kurdish woman are believed to be on death row in connection with their alleged membership of and activities for proscribed Kurdish organizations. They are Sami Hosseini, Jamal Mohammadi, Rashid Akhkandi, Rostam Arkia, Anvar Rostami, Mostafa Salimi, Mohammad Amin Abdollahi, Ghader (or Aziz) Mohammadzadeh, Hassan Talai, Habibollah Golparipour, Abdollah Sorouri, Loghman (or Loqman) Moradi, Zaniar Moradi (who was only 17 when arrested) and Zeynab Jalalian. Some have had initial prison sentences increased to death sentences. Ehsan Fattahian, a member of Komala, was executed on 11 November 2009 in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan province. 

December 2010 and January 2011 saw an alarming rise in the rate of executions, mainly of individuals convicted of offenses related to trafficking and possession of illegal drugs, although the rate has since declined. Additionally, since the start of 2011, up to 18 men have been hanged in public, compared to 14 such executions recorded by Amnesty International in the whole of 2010. Thirteen of those executions have taken place since 16 April 2011. On 20 April 2011, two juvenile offenders -- identified only as "A.N" and "H.B" - 
were among three individuals hanged in public in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, after being convicted over a rape and murder committed when they were only 17. A fourth man was hanged at the same time for rape. A 16-year-old member of the Ahwazi Arab minority was reportedly hanged in Khuzestan province between 5 and 7 May 2011 in the wake of clashes between Arabs and security forces on 15 April 2011. 

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible: 
- Urging the Iranian authorities not to carry out the execution of Sherko Moarefi and to grant a judicial review; 
- Calling on them to commute the death sentences of Sherko Moarefi, Habibollah Latifi and anyone else on death row, including other Kurdish political prisoners; 
- Stating that Amnesty International recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice, in conformity with international standards for fair trial, those suspected of criminal offenses, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. 


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 
IRAN 
Twitter: @khamenei_ir 
(please add #Iran in the body of the message which cannot exceed 140 characters, including spaces and 
punctuation) 
Salutation: Your Excellency 

Head of the Judiciary 
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani 
[care of] Public relations Office 
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street 
Vali Asr Ave., above Pasteur Street intersection 
Tehran 
IRAN 
(In subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani) 
Salutation: Your Excellency 

COPIES TO: 

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights 
Mohammad Javad Larijani 
High Council for Human Rights 
[Care of] Office of the Head of the Judiciary 
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri, 
Tehran 1316814737 
IRAN 
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir (subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani) 
Salutation: Dear Sir 

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

Iranian Interests Section 
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW 
Washington DC 20007 
Phone: 202 965 4990 
Fax: 202 965 1073 


PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

_________________________
Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Pro-DP comments will not be published.

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Florida: The Daily Routine of Death Row Inmates

The breakfast carts rattle through the concrete prison at about 5:30 am and as they approach Death Row the first sounds of morning repeat the last sounds of night - remote controlled locks clanging open and clunking closed, electric gates whirring, heavy metal doors crashing shut, voices wailing, klaxons blaring. A maximum security prison has no soft or delicate sounds. At the end of each corridor of death row cells a guard opens a heavy door of steel bars and a prison trusty pushes a breakfast cart inside. The door closes behind him and when it locks a second door opens and admits the trusty to the wing. He steers his cart along the wing stopping at each cell to pass a tray of powdered eggs and lukewarm grits through a small slot on the bars. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells. The food carts are full of cockroaches, the food is often undercooked or just rotten and is served on Styrofoam plates with a plastic "spork" - fork/spoon...
Post a Comment
Read more

South Korea ferry disaster: Surviving passengers of Sewol tragedy give evidence in court

Surviving passengers of a South Korean ferry which sunk in April, killing 304 people, are due to give evidence in the trial of its captain and 14 crew members. Students from the Danwon High School in Ansan, 18 miles south of Seoul, will testify with other passengers in a smaller court nearer to their home, rather than the one where the defendants are being seen in Gwangju, in the south of the country. The Sewol ferry set sail on 16 April with 476 passengers and crew on board - more than 300 of which were schoolchildren. They were enroute from the mainland to the island resort of Jeju as part of a school trip, when nearing the end of the journey, the vessel, which was overloaded, also made a sharp turn to the right causing it to capsize. Captain Lee Joon-seok, 68, was caught on rescue footage being one of the first to leave the ship, while many passengers, obeying orders, remained in the cabins. It is thought a delayed evacuation order from the captain did n...
Read more

Arizona executes Leroy McGill

Arizona executes inmate who set couple on fire in 'horrific attack' Arizona has executed Leroy McGill for setting 21-year-old Charles Perez and his 24-year-old girlfriend on fire. Perez died the next day and Perez survived with severe burn injuries.  Arizona has executed a death row inmate for setting 2 people on fire more than 20 years ago, killing 1 of them and changing the other's life forever.  The state executed Leroy McGill, 63, by lethal injection on Wednesday, May 20, for the 2002 murder of 21-year-old Charles Perez. McGill set Perez and his girlfriend on fire after they accused him of theft, court records say. Perez died of his injuries the next day while his girlfriend survived with severe burns. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee | Questions Raised About the Doctor Who Was Overseeing Tony Caruthers’ Execution

Mark Fowler, according to a deposition, had not placed a central line in a patient for more than a decade when he attempted to put one in Carruthers Around 11 a.m. Thursday morning in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, a medical doctor stepped in and attempted to place a central IV line in Tony Carruthers’ chest. By that point, the prison staff had spent some 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to insert a backup IV line that would allow them to proceed with the lethal injection. According to Carruthers’ attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, after asking a staff member to attempt inserting a line through Carruthers’ jugular vein, the doctor moved on to the central line, which is identified as the last resort in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol .
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Read more

Former Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip goes free on $500k bond

Richard Glossip was released from jail Thursday, May 14, on a $500,000 bond, a major victory for the former death row inmate who has come so close to execution that he has had three last meals. Glossip, 63, is awaiting his third trial in his 1997 murder-for-hire case. He walked out the front door of the Oklahoma County jail, holding hands with his wife, Lea Glossip, as a stiff Oklahoma breeze whipped his hair. "I'm just thankful for my wife and my attorneys," he told reporters. "I'm just happy." His release came hours after Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai set bail in a 13-page order that pointed to issues with the key witness against him.
Post a Comment
Read more

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

Texas executes Edward Busby Jr.

Texas puts man to death for a retired professor's killing in its 600th execution since 1982  A man who experts for both prosecutors and defense attorneys had said was intellectually disabled became the 600th person executed in Texas since 1982, put to death Thursday evening for the killing of a retired 77-year-old college professor.  Edward Busby Jr. was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. local time following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, hours after a divided Supreme Court lifted a stay over his disabilities claims. The execution followed a series of last-minute legal efforts by Busby's attorneys in a bid to spare his life after the nation’s high court lifted a stay hours earlier.
Post a Comment
Read more

Prosecutors may pursue death penalty in Alex Murdaugh retrial, South Carolina AG says

Alan Wilson said prosecutors are “back to square one” and all legal options are on the table. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Friday that his office may pursue the death penalty when it retries Alex Murdaugh in the 2021 murder of his son and wife. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’re back to square one on this case, and that means all our legal options are on the table, including the death penalty,” Wilson said. The state’s high court reversed Murdaugh’s double murder conviction in an opinion published Wednesday that accused a former court clerk of “egregious” jury interference.
Post a Comment
Read more

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.
Post a Comment
Read more