Appeal For Iranian Man Rejected

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Friday August 20, 2010 14:28 by AII - Amnesty International Ireland

Urgent Action Required: Please Send Appeals Before 16 September 2010

Iran's Supreme Court has rejected Ja'far Kazemi's request to appeal against his death sentence. The sentence was imposed for his alleged participation in anti-government demonstrations and links with a banned organization. His sentence may be carried out at any time. Six other people with alleged links to the same organization are said to be under sentence of death.

Ja'far Kazemi was arrested on 18 September 2009 and interrogated and possibly tortured for months in Evin prison in Tehran. He was accused of participating in protests which followed the disputed outcome of Iran's presidential election in June 2009, but was not accused of committing any violent acts; and for his alleged contact with banned opposition group the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). He was sentenced to death for "enmity against God", and is also believed to have been convicted of "propaganda against the system". On 26 April, he learned that his death sentence had been confirmed by an appeal court. A further appeal was apparently rejected in late July

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Amnesty International is aware of six other men sentenced to death in Iran for alleged links to the PMOI. Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei ,Ali Saremi (or Sarami), Abdolreza Ghanbari, Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam were reportedly also found guilty of "enmity against God", possibly in the same case as Ja'far Kazemi. Information received on 4 August indicated that another man, Javad Lari, a merchant in the Tehran bazaar, had been sentenced to "death, without pardon" for "enmity against God". He is also held in Evin prison, where he was reportedly tortured and forced to 'confess'.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, English, or your own language (Please refer to Ja'far Kazemi as "Ja'far Kazemi, son of Bahman" in your appeals, as this will help the authorities to identify him):

* Urging the Iranian authorities not to execute Ja'far Kazemi, Javad Lari, Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei, Ali Saremi (or Sarami), Abdolreza Ghanbari, Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam;
* Reminding the Iranian authorities that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, states that the death penalty can only be carried out for "the most serious crimes", which the Human Rights Committee has clarified must be "intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences."
* 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 offences, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 16 SEPTEMBER 2010 TO:

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: Via website: http://www.dadiran.ir/tabid/75/Default.aspx
First starred box: your given name;
second starred box: your family name;
third: your email address
Salutation: Your Excellency

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
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p'letter (English)
Salutation: Your Excellency

AND COPIES TO:

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riassat-e Ghoveh Ghazaiyeh
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave.,
south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 00 98 21 3390 4986
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com
(In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after 16 September 2010.

1st Floor,
Ballast House,
18-21 Westmoreland Street,
Dublin 2,
Ireland
Email: ua@amnesty.ie

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

HE Mr Ebrahim Rahimpour
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
72 Mount Merrion Avenue,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin
Telephone: 01 288 5881 / 0252
Faxes: 01 283 4246
Email: iranembassy@indigo.ie
www.iranembassy.ie