URGENT APPEAL for dual Iranian-Canadian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall at imminent risk of execution in Iran

A man with dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, appears to be at imminent risk of execution. His family was told on 15 April that his death sentence had been passed to the body within the Judiciary that carries out executions.

Hamid Ghassemi-Shall was arrested on 24 May 2008 while visiting his elderly mother in Iran. His older brother, Alborz Ghassemi-Shall, have been arrested about two weeks earlier. Both brothers were held in solitary confinement without legal representation, in Tehran's Evin prison for 18 months; in November 2009 the brothers were transferred to a section of the prison holding other prisoners.

On 29 December 2008 both men were sentenced to death following an unfair trial by a Revolutionary Court. They were convicted of moharebeh (enmity against God) for espionage and cooperation with the proscribed People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). Amnesty International understands that the evidence used against the brothers during trial included a "confession" and an email the authorities alleged Hamid Ghassemi-Shall had sent to his brother Alborz Ghassemi-Shall, who had previously worked as a mechanical engineer in the Iranian army, which he denied sending. On 7 November 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence. In January 2010 Alborz Ghassemi-Shall, who was suffering from stomach cancer, died in prison.

Hamid Ghassemi-Shall have said that while in Evin Prison, before he had access to legal representation, he was under "extreme pressure" to "confess". "Confessions" made under torture are frequently accepted as evidence in Iranian courts, violating the right to a fair trial. The Iranian authorities had previously threatened to arrest the brothers' sister Mahin Ghassemi-Shall, who has since died, for speaking out on behalf of her brother.

Please write immediately in Persian, English or your own language:

- Urging the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of Hamid Ghassemi-Shall;

- Urging them to retry him in proceedings which fully comply with international fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty;

- Calling on them to ensure that Hamid Ghassemi-Shall is given immediate and regular access to his family, his lawyer and any necessary medical treatment.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 JUNE 2012 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: info_leader@leader.ir

Twitter: "Call on #Iran leader @khamenei_ir to halt the execution of Hamid Ghassemi-Shall"

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

[Care of] Public Relations Office

Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection

Tehran

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com (Subject

Line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)

Salutation: Your Excellency

And 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

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir (subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani

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

Iranian Interests Section

c/o Embassy of Pakistan

2209 Wisconsin Ave NW

Washington DC 20007

Tel: 1 202 965 4990 -OR- 1 202 965-4991

Fax: 1 202 965 1073

Email: requests@daftar.org

Please check with AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the above date.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's wife, Antonella Mega, who lives in Canada, told Amnesty International on 20 April 2012 that her husband had called her on 15 April, and told her that his mother and his sister, Parvin Ghassemi-Shall, had been allowed to visit him at Evin Prison earlier that day. They had met in the office of a judge from the Office for the Implementation of Sentences. His mother and sister told him that another sister, Mahin Ghassemi-Shall, had died following an illness. The judge, who was present, immediately told the grieving family that Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's death sentence was "on his table" and that he was awaiting orders from Tehran Province's Chief Prosecutor to carry out Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's execution.

There were serious flaws in the fairness of the brothers' trial. They were held for months undergoing interrogation but without access to legal representation. Access to a lawyer from the outset of detention is essential to ensuring a fair trial. International fair trial standards require that anyone accused of a serious crime has access to a lawyer not only during the trial itself, but also immediately on arrest and throughout all subsequent proceedings, in particular in cases of offences carrying the death penalty. At the beginning of their interrogation and in court, the brothers denied the charges and the only evidence produced in the trial appears to have been the disputed email and a "confession" made by Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, apparently under duress, that he had obtained confidential military information from his brother. Under international law, no one should be forced to confess guilt; international law also prohibits the use of confessions extracted under torture as evidence except against those who carry out such torture.

The brothers were sentenced to death on the basis of Article 186 of Iran's Penal Code. It states that members and supporters of a group which has "waged armed struggle against the Islamic State are regarded to be moharebs provided they know the position of that group; are in active pursuit of their aims while the central [structure] of that organization or group exists." The article applies to all members and supporters of such groups even though they may not have taken up arms.

The PMOI is a banned opposition group based in Iraq which advocates the overthrow of the Iranian government. The PMOI has previously engaged in armed action against the Iranian government.

The Iranian authorities resort extensively to the imposition of the death penalty, with over 600 executions reported in the country from official and unofficial sources in 2011. So far this year, the Iranian authorities have acknowledged the execution of at least 85 people, 19 of them put to death in public. Amnesty International has received credible reports of 41 other executions which were not officially acknowledged, mostly of people convicted of drugs offences. Among others in Iran feared to be facing imminent execution are Habibollah Golparipour, Zaniar Moradi, Loghman Moradi (all members of Iran's Kurdish minority) Abd al-Rahman Heidari, Taha Heidari, Jamshid Heidari, Mansour Heidari, and Amir Muawi (or Mo’avi), Aref Hamidian (all members of Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority), Abdolreza Ghanbari and Saeed Malekpour. For further information regarding the use of the death penalty in Iran in 2011, see Amnesty International: Death Sentences and Executions in 2011, (MDE ACT 50/001/2012), 27 March 2012, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT50/001/2012/en.

The UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), expressing concern at the large numbers of death sentences and executions, has called on the Iranian authorities to "consider abolishing the death penalty or at least revise the Penal Code to restrict the imposition of the death penalty to only the 'most serious crimes'" which it has interpreted to mean intentional crimes with lethal consequences. The UN Human Rights Committee also stated its concern about the use of solitary confinement in Iran.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and as a violation of the right to life, and is calling for all death sentences in Iran to be overturned or commuted.

Name: Hamid Ghassemi-Shall (m)

Issue(s): Risk of imminent execution, Legal concern, Torture

---------------------------------

** POSTAGE RATES **

Within the United States:

$0.32 - Postcards

$0.45 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)

To Canada:

$0.85 - Postcards

$0.85 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)

To Mexico:

$0.85 - Postcards

$0.85 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)

To all other destination countries:

$1.05 - Postcards

$1.05 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)

Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.

This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network

Amnesty International USA

600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl

Washington DC 20003

Email: uan@aiusa.org

http://www.amnestyusa.org/uan

Phone: 202.509.8193

Fax: 202.675.8566

----------------------------------

END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL

Singapore executes three drug mules over two days

Singapore hanged three people for drug offences last week, bringing the total number of executions to 17 this year - the highest since 2003. These come a week before a constitutional challenge against the death penalty for drug offences is due to be heard. Singapore has some of the world's harshest anti-drug laws, which it says are a necessary deterrent to drug crime, a major issue elsewhere in South East Asia. Anyone convicted of trafficking - which includes selling, giving, transporting or administering - more than 15g of diamorphine, 30g of cocaine, 250g of methamphetamine and 500g of cannabis in Singapore will be handed the death sentence.

Florida | After nearly 50 years on death row, Tommy Zeigler seeks final chance at freedom

The Winter Garden Police chief was at a party on Christmas Eve 1975 when he received a phone call from his friend Tommy Zeigler, the owner of a furniture store on Dillard Street. “I’ve been shot, please hurry,” Zeigler told the chief as he struggled for breath. When police arrived at the store, Zeigler, 30, managed to unlock the door and then collapsed “with a gaping bullet hole through his lower abdomen,” court records show. In the store, detectives found a gruesome, bloody crime scene and several guns. Four other people — Zeigler’s wife, his in-laws and a laborer — lay dead.

Louisiana death row inmate freed after nearly 30 years as overturned conviction upends case

A Louisiana man who spent nearly 30 years on death row walked out of prison Wednesday after a judge overturned his conviction and granted him bail. Jimmie Duncan, now in his 60s, was sentenced to death in 1998 for the alleged rape and drowning of his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter, Haley Oliveaux — a case long clouded by disputed forensic testimony. His release comes months after a state judge ruled that the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction was unreliable and rooted in discredited bite-mark analysis.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Vietnam | Woman sentenced to death for poisoning 4 family members with cyanide

A woman in Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing family members including two young children in a series of cyanide poisonings that shocked her community. The Dong Nai People's Court found 39-year-old Nguyen Thi Hong Bich guilty of murder and of illegally possessing and using toxic chemicals. Judges described her actions as "cold-blooded, inhumane and calculated," saying Bich exploited the trust of her victims and "destroyed every ethical bond within her family."

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog