PUBLIC AI
Index: MDE 13/106/2006
21
September 2006
UA 252/06
IMMINENT EXECUTION
It is feared that Kobra
Rahmanpour is at imminent risk of execution for
murder. The Office for the Implementation of Sentences, which carries out
executions, has set a deadline of 12 October for the family of the murder
victim to agree to forgo their right to have Kobra Rahmanpour executed, and accept the payment of diyeh (blood money) instead. If they continue to ask for
the execution to be implemented, it is likely to be carried out soon after 12
October.
Kobra Rahmanpour was arrested on 5 November 2000
and was sentenced to death by Branch 1608 of
Kobra Rahmanpour was scheduled to be executed on 31 December
2003. However, on that day, the Judge of the Office for the
Implementation of Sentences confirmed to a
reporter from the internet news site, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA),
that the execution was cancelled because prison authorities were not fully
equipped for it (there were allegedly no handcuffs to use on the way to
the execution site).
In January 2004 Kobra
Rahmanpour’s execution was temporarily postponed by
Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary, to
allow the opportunity for the victims’ family to agree to pardon Kobra Rahmanpour. In a letter to
Amnesty International dated 3 February 2004, the Embassy of the Islamic
Republic of Iran in
Kobra Rahmanpour has
been detained in Evin prison for nearly six years,
for four of which she has been under sentence of death. In September 2006, she
wrote an open letter, published on the internet, in which she said:
“I am a human like you. I don’t want to die. But right now I am more like
a lifeless body who has forgotten happiness and laughter scared of the
execution rope…I am only a step away from death. I, like all of you, am scared
to die. Help me so this wouldn’t be my last letter. So many times I think with
myself, wishing my life would follow a different path. Wishing I could finish
my pre-university course. Wishing I wouldn’t be forced to work and to serve my
husband’s family. Wishing I wouldn’t reach the borders of madness. But I have
suffered so much. I am really a victim. And it is this victim who they are
going to hang to death. This is not a destiny that I deserve. In these days of
fear and horror, I come to you again. I thank all the media, papers and people
who supported me and said that “Kobra shouldn’t be
executed”. This time, maybe for the last time, I want to ask you to do your last
efforts for me so I am not executed and have a chance to be free. In my dreams
I always think of freedom and a good life after that. I have suffered enough.
Help me so this horrible nightmare that has so many times chased me in sleep
and has made me wake up and scream, won’t come true. Help me to be away from
death. Do whatever you can, there is little time. These days would be gone too,
and for me, every click of the clock is a sign that death is near. Please help
me! I am scared of death and execution. I hate the execution rope and the
crane. I want to live. All other ways are closed to me. Nobody is here for me.
My only hope lies in people and my fellow humans. I want to hug my father and
mother. In the end, I’d like to thank my family and everybody who struggles to
save me, for their efforts.”
On 11 May 2006, the United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released a statement on the case. Finding that Kobra Rahmanpour
could not access the services of a defense lawyer “between her taking in
custody and the beginning of the trial”, the WGAD emphasized that: “The lack of
legal representation in the investigation of a capital charge may seriously
jeopardize a supreme human value; the life of the accused. It is the position
of the Working Group that in the instant case the lack of defense counsel from
the initial stage of the investigation is so detrimental to the interests of
justice in general, and to the interests of the person charged in particular
that it confers to the criminal proceedings an unfair character.” The WGAD
further said that “Under the specific circumstances of this case and bearing in
mind that she is being held on death row since long, the most appropriate
remedy would be to obtain her exemption from the implementation of the capital
punishment. Such a generous measure, the Working Group believes, would be
broadly welcomed and highly appreciated by the international community.” [Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No 14/2006, 11 May
2006, paragraph 15].
Kobra Rahmanpour
was previously the subject of UA 364/03 (MDE 13/041/2003, 15 December 2003, and
follow-ups).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English, French
or your own language:
- urging the authorities to commute the death sentence
against Kobra Rahmanpour;
- noting the opinion of the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which states that “Under the specific circumstances of
this case and bearing in mind that she is being held on death row since long,
the most appropriate remedy would be to obtain her exemption from the
implementation of the capital punishment”;
- stating that Amnesty International recognizes the
rights and responsibilities of governments to bring to justice those suspected
of criminal offences, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel,
inhuman and degrading punishment.
Leader
of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Email: info@leader.ir OR istiftaa@wilayah.org
Fax:
+98 251 774 2228 (mark “FAO the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei”)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head
of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry
of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Email: Please send
emails via the feedback form on the Persian site of the website:
http://www.iranjudiciary.org/contactus-feedback-fa.html
(The text
of the feedback form translates as: 1st line: name, 2nd line: email address,
3rd line: subject heading, then enter your email into the text box)
Salutation:
Your Excellency
COPIES TO: diplomatic
representatives of Iran
Botschaft der Islamischen Republik Iran; S.E. Herr Seyed Mohsen Nabavi, ao. u. bev. Botschafter
Strohgasse 14 c; A-1030 Wien
Tel: +43-1-712
26 50, +43-1-712 26 57; Fax: +43-1-713 57 33, +43-1-713 46 94; Telex: 131 718;
E-Mail: public@iranembassy-wien.at;
PLEASE
SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Textvorschlag:
(Der Textvorschlag ist nur als Anregung gedacht. Falls Ihre
Fremdsprachenkenntnisse ausreichen, dann verfassen Sie das Appellschreiben
bitte selbst! Je individueller die Briefe sind, desto besser!)
(Entsprechende
Anrede),
I am dismayed to hear that
KOBRA RAHMANPOUR is at imminent risk of execution for murder.
She was sentenced to death in
January 2002 for killing her mother-in-law. The office of the Implementation
of Sentences has set a deadline of 12 October 2006 for the family of the murder
victim to agree to forgo their right to have KOBRA RAHMANPOUR executed, and
accept the payment of diyeh (blood money) instead.
I wish to state that I recognize the rights and
responsibilities of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal
offences, but I strongly oppose the death penalty as the ultimate cruel,
inhuman and degrading punishment. Moreover, it is a symptom of a violent
society rather than a cure for it.
Therefore and in the name of humanity I urge you to commute
the death sentence against KOBRA RAHMANPOUR.
Furthermore, I would like to bring to your notice the
opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which states
that “Under the specific circumstances of this case and bearing in mind that
she is being held on death row since long, the most appropriate remedy would be
to obtain her exemption from the implementation of the capital punishment.”
Thank you in advance for acting promptly on this urgent
matter.
Yours sincerely,