Todesstrafe

Sherko Moarefi erhielt von BeamtInnen der Hafteinrichtung, in der er sich befindet, inoffiziell die Nachricht, dass seine Hinrichtung am 1. Mai stattfinden würde, was ihm jedoch zu keinem Zeitpunkt offiziell bestätigt wurde. Am 28. April 2011 begann er einen Hungerstreik, um gegen seinen ungewissen rechtlichen Status zu protestieren. Mittlerweile hat er seinen Streik jedoch wieder beendet. Nachdem das Todesurteil gegen Sherko Moarefi zum zweiten Mal durch die Abteilung 27 des Oberesten Gerichtshofs bestätigt worden war, sandte man seine Akte am 27. April an das Büro zur Strafvollstreckung in Saqqes in der nord-westiranischen Provinz Kordestan. Der Rechtsanwalt von Sherko Moarefi erklärte, es seien Schritte unternommen worden, um dem Gericht Unregelmäßigkeiten im Prozessverlauf zu melden. Da der Fall aber bereits dem Büro zur Strafvollstreckung zugegangen ist, kann das Todesurteil jederzeit vollstreckt werden.

Sherko Moarefi war im Oktober 2008 in dem Dorf Dowlat Ghaleh bei Saqqez festgenommen worden. Kurz darauf verurteilte ihn ein Revolutionsgericht zum Tode. Amnesty International zeigt sich bereits seit mehreren Jahren besorgt über die unfairen Gerichtsverfahren, die vor iranischen Revolutionsgerichten stattfinden. Sherko Moarefi wurde wegen "Handelns gegen die staatliche Sicherheit" und "Feindschaft zu Gott", die man mit seiner mutmaßlichen Verbindung zur verbotenen kurdischen Oppositionsgruppe Komala rechtfertigte, zum Tode verurteilt. Sherko Moarefi legte Rechtsmittel ein, das Urteil blieb jedoch bestehen und wurde auch vom Obersten Gerichtshof bestätigt.

Habibollah Latifi, einem weiteren kurdischen politischen Gefangenen, droht ebenfalls unmittelbar die Hinrichtung, nachdem die Vollstreckung seines Todesurteil, die am 26. Dezember 2010 hätte stattfinden sollen, aufgrund von internationalem und öffentlichem Druck kurzfristig ausgesetzt wurde (siehe UA 271/09 und weitere Informationen). Er ist Student für Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen an der Universität der Stadt Ilam im Westen des Iran und wurde der Mitgliedschaft und der Mitwirkung in der verbotenen bewaffneten Gruppe "Partei für ein Freies Leben in Kurdistan" (PJAK) für schuldig befunden. Von mindestens 14 weiteren kurdischen politischen Gefangenen ist ebenso bekannt, dass sie sich im Todestrakt befinden.

[EMPFOHLENE AKTIONEN]

SCHREIBEN SIE BITTE LUFTPOSTBRIEFE UND E-MAILS MIT FOLGENDEN FORDERUNGEN

• Ich bitte sie eindringlich, das Todesurteil gegen Sherko Moarefi nicht zu vollstrecken und eine erneute gerichtliche Prüfung des Falls einzuleiten.

• Wandeln Sie die gegen Sherko Moarefi und Habibollah Latifi sowie gegen alle weiteren kurdischen politischen Gefangenen verhängten Todesurteile unverzüglich um.

• Ich möchte betonen, dass Amnesty International das Recht und die Pflicht eines Staates anerkennt, Personen, die Straftaten begangen haben, entsprechend der internationalen Standards für faire Gerichtsverfahren vor Gericht zu stellen. Die Todesstrafe als schlimmste Form der grausamen, unmenschlichen und erniedrigenden Bestrafung lehnt die Organisation jedoch ausnahmslos ab.

[APPELLE AN]

RELIGIONSFÜHRER
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, IRAN
(korrekte Anrede: Your Excellency/ Exzellenz)
E-Mail: info_leader@leader.ir
Twitter: @khamenei_ir (bitte schreiben Sie: #Iran Exzellenz, ich bitte Sie eindringlich, das Todesurteil des Gefangenen Sherko Moarefi umzuwandeln.)

OBERSTE JUSTIZAUTORITÄT
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
[C/o] Public Relations Office, Number 4, 2 Azizi Street
Vali Asr Ave., above Pasteur Street intersection
Tehran, IRAN
(korrekte Anrede: Your Excellency/ Exzellenz)
E-Mail: bia.judi@yahoo.com (Betreff: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)

KOPIEN AN
LEITER DER STAATLICHEN MENSCHENRECHTSBEHÖRDE
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
[C/o] Office of the Head of the Judiciary, Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737
IRAN
(korrekte Anrede: Dear Sir/ Sehr geehrter Herr Larijani)
E-Mail: info@humanrights-iran.ir

(Betreff: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)

BOTSCHAFT DER ISLAMISCHEN REPUBLIK IRAN
S.E. Herrn Alireza Sheikh Attar
Podbielskiallee 65-67, 14195 Berlin
Fax: 030-8435 3535
E-Mail: iran.botschaft@t-online.de oder info@iranbotschaft.de

Bitte schreiben Sie Ihre Appelle möglichst sofort. Schreiben Sie in gutem Persisch, Arabisch, Englisch, Französisch oder auf Deutsch. Da Informationen in Urgent Actions schnell an Aktualität verlieren können, bitten wir Sie, nach dem 6. Juni 2011 keine Appelle mehr zu verschicken.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY

• 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 offences, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

[HINTERGRUNDINFORMATIONEN AUF ENGLISCH]

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, (Index: MDE 13/088/2008), 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 offences 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 offences 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.

FU on UA: 95/11 Index: MDE 13/048/2011 Issue Date: 13 May 2011