URGENT APPEAL for Iranian photographer Soheil Arabi sentenced to death in Iran for “insulting the Prophet"

An Iranian man has been sentenced to death for “insulting the Prophet of Islam”. Soheil Arabi has now had his sentence upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. He was sentenced for posts deemed offensive to the Prophet he had made on Facebook.

Photographer Soheil Arabi, 30, was sentenced to death on 30 August 2014 for “insulting the Prophet of Islam” (Sabbo al-Nabbi) by a five-judge panel of Branch 76 of the Criminal Court of Tehran: three of the judges ruled in favor of the death penalty. The charge stems from postings Soheil Arabi made on eight Facebook accounts, which the authorities said belong to Soheil Arabi. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence on 24 November. In a separate case stemming from the same Facebook posts, Soheil Arabi was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “spreading propaganda against the system” and “insulting the leader”, by a Tehran Revolutionary Court on 4 September.

Soheil Arabi was arrested in November 2013 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in his home in Tehran, and spent two months in solitary confinement in section 2A of Evin Prison, which is under the control of the IRGC. During interrogation, he was pressured into making a “confession”. He was later transferred to Section 350 of the Prison, which is under the control of the Judiciary.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Soheil Arabai’s case is the second case known to Amnesty International where someone was sentenced to death for “insulting the Prophet”. The other case is of Rouhollah Tavana; the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence for “insulting the Prophet of Islam” in February 2014. He had been sentenced to death on 3 August 2013 by Branch Five of the Criminal Court in Khorasan in relation to a video clip in which he allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. The Court also sentenced him to imprisonment and flogging on charges of “alcohol consumption”, “making alcoholic beverages” and “illicit sexual relations”. A Revolutionary Court in Khorasan sentenced him to a further three years' imprisonment after convicting him of “insulting the founder of the Revolution” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”. See “Facing Death for ‘Insulting the Prophet’”(http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/012/2014/en).

Name: Soheil Arabi (m)

Issues: Death penalty, Freedom of expression, Legal concern

UA: 298/14

Issue Date: 26 November 2014

Country: Iran

HOW YOU CAN HELP

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

* Calling on the Iranian authorities not to execute Soheil Arabi, and to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty;

* Urging them to release Soheil Arabi if he is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and to uphold their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to respect the right to freedom of expression;

* Reminding them that under international human rights law, the death penalty may only be used for "the most serious crimes", which international bodies have interpreted as being limited to crimes involving intentional killing.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 JANUARY 2015 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

Twitter: @khamenei_ir

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah SadeghLarijani

c/o Public Relations Office

Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

(Subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)

Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Hassan Rouhani

The Presidency

Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: media@rouhani.ir

Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian)

Also send copies to:

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 I Fax: 202 965 1073 I Email: info@daftar.org

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T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan@aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent

Source: Amnesty International, November 26, 2014

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