hashem
9th February 2012, 05:57
Reports from Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, Iran confirm that the crimes of the despotic Islamic Republic regime continue at a scale comparable to the slaughter of the decade of the 1980s. The recent executions of political prisoners charged with possession or sale of narcotics, among a group of 30 to 70 prisoners – in the absence of any prior notification of the convicted prisoners themselves and their families – is a continuation of past practices. These horrible conditions have once again provoked panic among prisoners such as what occurred during the 1980’s. The regime’s aggregate prison capacity is 80,000 prisoners but presently more than 205,000 prisoners are being held in detention (1). According to Jallil Mohibi, an attorney, 8 million new cases annually are filed by public prosecutors, which added to pending cases amounts to more than 11 million prosecution cases. There are total of 7,000 judges, of whom 1,500 work at the management / supervisory level. The remaining 5,500 judges must each adjudicate over 20 cases every day. Note the fact that each case on average has 50 pages in its file (2). These facts alone expose the reality that Iran’s judicial system is entirely overwhelmed and that there is little more than cursory review of cases. As a consequence, death by stoning for innocent women like Sakine-Mohammad-Ashtiani, and the execution of teenagers under the age of 18 years routinely occur. This barbaric behavior has provoked anger and severe reactions by people throughout the world against Iran’s despotic Islamic regime. Execution and torture have been the everyday tools of this regime since its consolidation of power. Another report from Kamyaran in Kurdistan tells us that a young man who was charged with possession of alcohol had been detained by police, and that he died in detention as a result of physical torture. His burial ceremony was held in Kamyaran on Tuesday, August 28, 2010 (3). Also, according to a report from Kurdish sources, Mohammad Esmaeil, a Kurdish resident of Ghaladeze in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah Governate, had been arrested by Islamic Republic security forces in Sardasht, Iran. Due to severe physical torture during interrogation while in detention, he died. (4)
These kinds of crimes occur every day in the regime’s prisons and torture chambers all over Iran.
Due to the political consciousness and activities of opposition organizations and the families of political prisoners, the Islamic regime’s inhumane treatment of political prisoners has been widely exposed. Iranian, and world, opinion has turned against the unholy and tyrannical behavior of the Iranian judicial system toward its political opposition. But injustice, oppression and torture are also endured by non-political prisoners; for some of them, hands and feet are chopped off as punishment for petty theft. This is routinely carried out in Iranian jails and prisons. Courtrooms have become the stage for violent repressive acts – a stage where the wealthy are protected, and where judges are the nemesis of Justice rather than its servants; they are agents of revenge. This is the barbarity brought about by 31 years of the Islamic Republic : a living Hell for 90% of Iran’s population, for whom a solid legal defense is insufficient to ensure justice.
Judicial authority is supposed to based upon the “independent” foundation of parliamentary democracy. However the Iranian judiciary system hasn’t shown any independence over the past 31 years. On the contrary, it has become the servant of the state security apparatus. Judges base their decisions on trumped up charges and fabricated evidence. The degree to which torture is utilized is unprecedented; it is through torture that prisoners come to admit to whatever charges have been brought against them. As seen in a recent case, Sakine Mohamadi Ashtiani was put on national television to “confess” to her “crimes” and then to state publicly that she had not been tortured!
Evidentiary files – especially those related to political prisoners – are fabricated by the Basiji, the military, the Ministry of Information, or even by the Minister of Justice – himself one of the many unscrupulous clerics who have served on “revolutionary” courts. In such courts very often even the defense attorneys are kept uninformed of trial dates for their clients!! In fact, prior to the opening of the trial, the defense attorney isn’t allowed to review the charges or evidence – making it extremely difficult to make any preparations for trial. This is done to avoid the headache of defense attorneys exposing the disarray of the case files and the fabrication (or absence) of evidence.
Regarding the cases of the martyrs Farzad Kamangar, Shireen Alamholi and others, the trumped up, fraudulent charges were dramatically exposed at the Appeals Court level for the tortured Farzad. His defense attorney believed that it was very likely that Farzad would be released. Then, suddenly, the news of his execution by the regime was broadcast. The people, especially in Kurdistan, reacted with astonishment. And the people’s hatred of the Islamic regime has grown.
The blinded religious dictatorship has never been willing to restrict its suppression of civil rights, even for the purpose of improving its international image. The absolutism of their “spiritual” worldview simply does not allow the flexibility to admit, let alone correct, error. For this reason the judicial system continues its march, crushing its own Constitution, and moving ever closer to total fascism. Their vengeance is now aimed at defense attorneys who seek to professionally and conscientiously represent their clients.
A recent Deutshce Welle broadcast, headlined as “When Defense Attorneys Join their Clients in Prison” presented a list of imprisoned attorneys as part of a conversation with Mitra Shojaei :
DW: Nasrin Sotoodeh, the attorney for several human rights activists, was arrested on September 4, 2010 and remains in detention. This is not the first time that the Islamic Republic’s judicial system has arrested a defense attorney, charged the attorney with the crime of defending his client, and sent him to prison.
In March, 2001, two years after the notorious serial murders of more than 80 progressive and revolutionary activists by the regime, Naser Zafarshan, an attorney representing the families of some of the murder victims, was himself arrested. He was charged with publicly releasing federal documents related to the serial murders, and was condemned to 5 years in prison and 50 lashes.
A few months before that incident, Shireen Ebadi was arrested for releasing a cassette recording related to the “Navarsazan” case; the cassette included a recorded “confession” by Amirfarshad Abrahimi, a former member of Ansar-e-Hezbollah. She was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment; she was also barred from practicing law for 5 years. A court of appeal overturned that sentence, and settled for a fine of 300,000 tomans.
In January, 2003 Mohammadali Dadkhah, the attorney representing Nehzat Azadi, was arrested. He was initially convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and barred from practicing law for 10 years. A court of appeal reduced the sentence to 5 years imprisonment.
Abdolfattah Soltani, another attorney, was arrested in August, 2005 by undercover agents of the Ministry of Information. He was charged with espionage for publicly releasing his clients’ case files. His clients in these cases were employees of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency. Soltani spent 7 months in Evin Prison, but then was released on bail. He was convicted, and initially sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, and barred from practicing law for 5 years. A court of appeal exonerated him of all charges.
In February, 2010, Mohammad Oliaifard was reviewing the case files of several of his clients who had received Court summons. For that activity, he was arrested by order of the Director of Court Division 26. This same Ministry of Justice attorney / public defender, in reviewing the execution of Behnood Shojaei in the course of an interview, stated that he believed the execution to have been illegal, given the youth of his client. He was then arrested, accused of publicly criticizing the judicial system, convicted, and punished.
In May, 2010, a few days after the execution of five political prisoners, Khalil Bahramian, the attorney for Farzad Kamangar and Shireen Alamholy (two of the five prisoners who were executed), was himself arrested. Following the execution of his clients, in a media interview, he had continued to defend his clients and had
spelled out his defense strategy at trail. He stated his belief that the authorities knew full well that Arash Kamengar was innocent, but that he had been condemned to death and executed despite his innocence.
With the confirmation of the sentencing of Sakine-Mohammad Ashtiani to death by stoning during the summer of 2010, her attorney, Mohammad Mostafaei, discussed her case with the Media. He was then summoned by the authorities. Due to legal defects in the summons, he refused to show up at the public prosecutor’s office. In response, security agents instead arrested his wife and his brother-in-law. At that point, this Ministry of Justice attorney / public defender fled the country. After his exit from the country, his wife and brother-in-law were released. Presently, Mohammad Mostafaei along with his family resides in Norway.
Also, on September 4, 2010, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Shireen Ebadi’s attorney, was arrested while returning from the public prosecutor’s office. Before being arrested, she had told a Deutsche Welle reporter that security agents contacted her husband several times and had told him that Ms. Sotoodeh must give up defending Shireen Ebadi. After the execution of her client, Arash Rahmanipour, Nasrin Sotoodeh stated in a conversation with Deutsche Welle, “Even when I am unable to assist my clients in any manner, I would still prefer to be on their advocate”.
Mansour Shojaei, who is one of Nasrin Sotoodeh’s clients, says: “Iran is full of clients without attorneys”. Regarding the arrest of his attorney, this women’s rights activist says: “From the client’s point of view, the arrest of one’s attorney is a travesty which could only happen in Iran – where even an attorney like Nasrin Sotoode, whose commitment to social ideals and to human rights is widely known, can be arrested.”
“These activities are a direct attack against defense attorneys. As you know, many of the attorneys of the ‘Association of Human Rights Defenders’, like Mr. Soltani, Mr. Dadkhah…etc can no longer practice law or defend their clients. While it may appear that this situation only impacts a limited number of attorneys, in reality, the rule of law is being threatened. Within the judicial system, advocacy in defense of a client is increasingly subject to retaliation. Sooner or later, the judicial system will operate no differently than extra-judicial or military tribunals, where there is no defense attorney, only one person decides the verdict, and the defendants have no right to defend themselves. Eventually, it is possible that prosecuting attorneys will replace the human rights attorneys in court…” .
Mohammad Mostafaei states that the purpose of these actions is “to silence any kind of demand for justice”. This attorney, who had to flee the country, says: “The aim is clearly to suppress any kind of opposition voices and to deprive Ministry of Justice public defenders of any ability to defend their clients. If they want to defend their clients, they have to keep their mouths shut. The aim is to protect the ones who actually break the law, to allow them to be free to continue their unlawful activities. The judicial system does not want defense attorneys to expose these miscarriages of justice to people across the world. They do not want the Ministry of Justice attorneys to expose their illegal activities to the eyes of the people of the world. They know that the voice of the Ministry of Justice attorneys is the voice of truth, the voice demanding justice, and they cannot possibly tolerate hearing the voice of truth and justice”.
Mr. Dadkhah says: “In 1975, the Iranian government endorsed the entire UN Declaration of Human Rights, entering into a treaty. In accordance with Article 9 of Civil Law, all of the articles of the Declaration are to be taken into account in local legal proceedings, and backtracking from them would be illegal. Besides that, in accordance to the Article 27 of the Vienna Convention, adopted in May, 1969, no government on the basis of its own domestic laws may act in violation of international treaties and or disregard those treaties”.
This is the status of the “judicial apparatus of Iran’s Islamic Republic”. It is a sterile seed which cannot thrive. The counter-revolutionary rulers of the Islamic Republic have driven Iran back to the medieval ages, when accused defendants were deprived of any right to defend themselves.
Once again, this reality clearly shows the historical legitimacy of the slogan “Keep the hands of religion off of the government and public education”. This slogan was shouted by the full blooded revolutionaries of the bourgeois democratic revolutions of the 18th and the 19th centuries; and has continued to be shouted by working
class and communist vanguards right up till now – so long as religion continues to interfere in government affairs, and until religion becomes strictly a personal matter.
K. Abrahim, September 9, 2010
(1) Deutsche Welle, Sept. 1, 2010-10-12,
(2) ibid.
(3) Herana News Agency
(4) Iranian News Agency
These kinds of crimes occur every day in the regime’s prisons and torture chambers all over Iran.
Due to the political consciousness and activities of opposition organizations and the families of political prisoners, the Islamic regime’s inhumane treatment of political prisoners has been widely exposed. Iranian, and world, opinion has turned against the unholy and tyrannical behavior of the Iranian judicial system toward its political opposition. But injustice, oppression and torture are also endured by non-political prisoners; for some of them, hands and feet are chopped off as punishment for petty theft. This is routinely carried out in Iranian jails and prisons. Courtrooms have become the stage for violent repressive acts – a stage where the wealthy are protected, and where judges are the nemesis of Justice rather than its servants; they are agents of revenge. This is the barbarity brought about by 31 years of the Islamic Republic : a living Hell for 90% of Iran’s population, for whom a solid legal defense is insufficient to ensure justice.
Judicial authority is supposed to based upon the “independent” foundation of parliamentary democracy. However the Iranian judiciary system hasn’t shown any independence over the past 31 years. On the contrary, it has become the servant of the state security apparatus. Judges base their decisions on trumped up charges and fabricated evidence. The degree to which torture is utilized is unprecedented; it is through torture that prisoners come to admit to whatever charges have been brought against them. As seen in a recent case, Sakine Mohamadi Ashtiani was put on national television to “confess” to her “crimes” and then to state publicly that she had not been tortured!
Evidentiary files – especially those related to political prisoners – are fabricated by the Basiji, the military, the Ministry of Information, or even by the Minister of Justice – himself one of the many unscrupulous clerics who have served on “revolutionary” courts. In such courts very often even the defense attorneys are kept uninformed of trial dates for their clients!! In fact, prior to the opening of the trial, the defense attorney isn’t allowed to review the charges or evidence – making it extremely difficult to make any preparations for trial. This is done to avoid the headache of defense attorneys exposing the disarray of the case files and the fabrication (or absence) of evidence.
Regarding the cases of the martyrs Farzad Kamangar, Shireen Alamholi and others, the trumped up, fraudulent charges were dramatically exposed at the Appeals Court level for the tortured Farzad. His defense attorney believed that it was very likely that Farzad would be released. Then, suddenly, the news of his execution by the regime was broadcast. The people, especially in Kurdistan, reacted with astonishment. And the people’s hatred of the Islamic regime has grown.
The blinded religious dictatorship has never been willing to restrict its suppression of civil rights, even for the purpose of improving its international image. The absolutism of their “spiritual” worldview simply does not allow the flexibility to admit, let alone correct, error. For this reason the judicial system continues its march, crushing its own Constitution, and moving ever closer to total fascism. Their vengeance is now aimed at defense attorneys who seek to professionally and conscientiously represent their clients.
A recent Deutshce Welle broadcast, headlined as “When Defense Attorneys Join their Clients in Prison” presented a list of imprisoned attorneys as part of a conversation with Mitra Shojaei :
DW: Nasrin Sotoodeh, the attorney for several human rights activists, was arrested on September 4, 2010 and remains in detention. This is not the first time that the Islamic Republic’s judicial system has arrested a defense attorney, charged the attorney with the crime of defending his client, and sent him to prison.
In March, 2001, two years after the notorious serial murders of more than 80 progressive and revolutionary activists by the regime, Naser Zafarshan, an attorney representing the families of some of the murder victims, was himself arrested. He was charged with publicly releasing federal documents related to the serial murders, and was condemned to 5 years in prison and 50 lashes.
A few months before that incident, Shireen Ebadi was arrested for releasing a cassette recording related to the “Navarsazan” case; the cassette included a recorded “confession” by Amirfarshad Abrahimi, a former member of Ansar-e-Hezbollah. She was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment; she was also barred from practicing law for 5 years. A court of appeal overturned that sentence, and settled for a fine of 300,000 tomans.
In January, 2003 Mohammadali Dadkhah, the attorney representing Nehzat Azadi, was arrested. He was initially convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and barred from practicing law for 10 years. A court of appeal reduced the sentence to 5 years imprisonment.
Abdolfattah Soltani, another attorney, was arrested in August, 2005 by undercover agents of the Ministry of Information. He was charged with espionage for publicly releasing his clients’ case files. His clients in these cases were employees of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency. Soltani spent 7 months in Evin Prison, but then was released on bail. He was convicted, and initially sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, and barred from practicing law for 5 years. A court of appeal exonerated him of all charges.
In February, 2010, Mohammad Oliaifard was reviewing the case files of several of his clients who had received Court summons. For that activity, he was arrested by order of the Director of Court Division 26. This same Ministry of Justice attorney / public defender, in reviewing the execution of Behnood Shojaei in the course of an interview, stated that he believed the execution to have been illegal, given the youth of his client. He was then arrested, accused of publicly criticizing the judicial system, convicted, and punished.
In May, 2010, a few days after the execution of five political prisoners, Khalil Bahramian, the attorney for Farzad Kamangar and Shireen Alamholy (two of the five prisoners who were executed), was himself arrested. Following the execution of his clients, in a media interview, he had continued to defend his clients and had
spelled out his defense strategy at trail. He stated his belief that the authorities knew full well that Arash Kamengar was innocent, but that he had been condemned to death and executed despite his innocence.
With the confirmation of the sentencing of Sakine-Mohammad Ashtiani to death by stoning during the summer of 2010, her attorney, Mohammad Mostafaei, discussed her case with the Media. He was then summoned by the authorities. Due to legal defects in the summons, he refused to show up at the public prosecutor’s office. In response, security agents instead arrested his wife and his brother-in-law. At that point, this Ministry of Justice attorney / public defender fled the country. After his exit from the country, his wife and brother-in-law were released. Presently, Mohammad Mostafaei along with his family resides in Norway.
Also, on September 4, 2010, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Shireen Ebadi’s attorney, was arrested while returning from the public prosecutor’s office. Before being arrested, she had told a Deutsche Welle reporter that security agents contacted her husband several times and had told him that Ms. Sotoodeh must give up defending Shireen Ebadi. After the execution of her client, Arash Rahmanipour, Nasrin Sotoodeh stated in a conversation with Deutsche Welle, “Even when I am unable to assist my clients in any manner, I would still prefer to be on their advocate”.
Mansour Shojaei, who is one of Nasrin Sotoodeh’s clients, says: “Iran is full of clients without attorneys”. Regarding the arrest of his attorney, this women’s rights activist says: “From the client’s point of view, the arrest of one’s attorney is a travesty which could only happen in Iran – where even an attorney like Nasrin Sotoode, whose commitment to social ideals and to human rights is widely known, can be arrested.”
“These activities are a direct attack against defense attorneys. As you know, many of the attorneys of the ‘Association of Human Rights Defenders’, like Mr. Soltani, Mr. Dadkhah…etc can no longer practice law or defend their clients. While it may appear that this situation only impacts a limited number of attorneys, in reality, the rule of law is being threatened. Within the judicial system, advocacy in defense of a client is increasingly subject to retaliation. Sooner or later, the judicial system will operate no differently than extra-judicial or military tribunals, where there is no defense attorney, only one person decides the verdict, and the defendants have no right to defend themselves. Eventually, it is possible that prosecuting attorneys will replace the human rights attorneys in court…” .
Mohammad Mostafaei states that the purpose of these actions is “to silence any kind of demand for justice”. This attorney, who had to flee the country, says: “The aim is clearly to suppress any kind of opposition voices and to deprive Ministry of Justice public defenders of any ability to defend their clients. If they want to defend their clients, they have to keep their mouths shut. The aim is to protect the ones who actually break the law, to allow them to be free to continue their unlawful activities. The judicial system does not want defense attorneys to expose these miscarriages of justice to people across the world. They do not want the Ministry of Justice attorneys to expose their illegal activities to the eyes of the people of the world. They know that the voice of the Ministry of Justice attorneys is the voice of truth, the voice demanding justice, and they cannot possibly tolerate hearing the voice of truth and justice”.
Mr. Dadkhah says: “In 1975, the Iranian government endorsed the entire UN Declaration of Human Rights, entering into a treaty. In accordance with Article 9 of Civil Law, all of the articles of the Declaration are to be taken into account in local legal proceedings, and backtracking from them would be illegal. Besides that, in accordance to the Article 27 of the Vienna Convention, adopted in May, 1969, no government on the basis of its own domestic laws may act in violation of international treaties and or disregard those treaties”.
This is the status of the “judicial apparatus of Iran’s Islamic Republic”. It is a sterile seed which cannot thrive. The counter-revolutionary rulers of the Islamic Republic have driven Iran back to the medieval ages, when accused defendants were deprived of any right to defend themselves.
Once again, this reality clearly shows the historical legitimacy of the slogan “Keep the hands of religion off of the government and public education”. This slogan was shouted by the full blooded revolutionaries of the bourgeois democratic revolutions of the 18th and the 19th centuries; and has continued to be shouted by working
class and communist vanguards right up till now – so long as religion continues to interfere in government affairs, and until religion becomes strictly a personal matter.
K. Abrahim, September 9, 2010
(1) Deutsche Welle, Sept. 1, 2010-10-12,
(2) ibid.
(3) Herana News Agency
(4) Iranian News Agency