Two executed in Iran’s Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province – report
Published: Monday, August 04, 2008
14:55GMT—10:55AM/EST
EXECUTION – IRAN – MEHRNEHAD
Washington, 4 August (IranVNC)—The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran [ICHRI] reports today that 28-year-old social activist Yaghoub Mehrnehad was executed in the southeastern city of Zahedan. Another individual, Abdolnasser Taheri-Sadr, was also hanged today in the same city, reports the Tabnak News website.
According to Tabnak News, Mehrnehad and Taheri-Sadr were charged with “moharebeh” [“waging war against God”] and “corruption” stemming from their alleged membership in the Jondollah armed group, which has carried out bombings and kidnappings against Iranian security forces in the Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province in the country’s southeast.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, Mehrnehad’s sentencing shows that the Iranian government “cares nothing about law and nothing about justice.”
“Yet again Iran has rushed to execute another [Mehrnehad] without even giving him the bare minimum of a trial,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, told IranVNC today.
She added: “There were no elements of due process.”
In a statement posted on its website, ICHRI Coordinator Hadi Ghaemi echoed Whitson’s comments, saying: “Mehrnehad’s prosecution and trial were a farce, and we are left with an impression of a justice system in the hands of those bent on repression by instilling fear, a system that does not value human life or the truth.”
The Campaign said the charges against Mehrnehad, an Iranian Baluchi and the executive director of the non-governmental Voice of Justice Youth Association, were politically motivated. It added that the only evidence used against him was based on interrogation reports provided by the Intelligence Ministry.
The Revolution Court of Zahedan tried Mehrnehad behind closed doors on 25 December 2007. With only the presence of his attorney, Mehrnehad was sentenced to death. Judiciary officials informed his family of the sentence on 7 February 2008, the Campaign reports.
“Since Mehrnehad’s trial was not held in public with prosecutors providing conclusive evidence relating to charges against him, the Court’s decision had no credibility under Iranian law and international standards for fair trial,” the Campaign said.
The Campaign points to a “skyrocketing” number of executions in Iran. On 27 July, 29 men were hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison. According to Amnesty International, Iran has executed 187 individuals this year.
Source: IranVNC correspondent, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran website, Amnesty International, Tabnak News website
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