Tag Archives: Amnesty International
Saudi Arabia Beheads a child
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 23/031/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 149
3 August 2007
Saudi Arabia: Juvenile offender beheaded
Amnesty International is outraged at the recent beheading of a child offender in Saudi Arabia. According to press reports, the execution took place in the city of Taif on 21 July 2007.
Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i was sentenced to death for a murder he allegedly committed when he was just 15 years old. He was held in a juvenile facility until his 18th birthday and then moved to an adult prison. Dhahian appealed to the families of the victim to pardon him — as allowed by Shari’a law — but the outcome of his appeal is not known.
In May 2007, Amnesty International issued urgent appeals to the government of Saudi Arabia calling for a halt to his execution and urging commutation of the death sentence against him
The organisation calls upon King Abdullah to immediately halt all pending executions and take all necessary steps to stop the imposition of death sentences on juvenile offenders.
Due to the strict secrecy of the criminal justice system, it is not possible to know how many juvenile offenders have been put to death in Saudi Arabia, but according to a media report, over 100 juvenile offenders are said to be on death row. They include Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan national who was 17 at the time of the alleged murder for which she was sentenced to death following her arrest in 2005. They may also include Sultan Kohail, a 16-year-old Canadian national who was tried early this year on murder charges along with his brother Mohamed Kohail, aged 22.
Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i’s beheading is one of the latest in a recent spate of executions in Saudi Arabia. Since September 2006, at least 143 men and women have been executed in the Kingdom, which is one of the highest execution rates in the world.
Trial proceedings usually take place behind closed doors without adequate legal representation, and invariably fall short of international fair trial standards. Both children and adults are often convicted on the basis of “confessions” obtained under duress, including torture or other ill-treatment during incommunicado detention.
Background
International law prohibits Saudi Arabia from executing people for crimes committed when they are below the age of 18. Saudi Arabian officials have maintained that they comply with this obligation, contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, because they do not execute children. In fact, the convention prohibits executions for crimes committed while a person is a child, regardless of when the sentence is carried out.
URGENT: Another Yemeni Youth facing imminent execution
PUBLI
C
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Index: MDE 31/008/2007
1 August 2007
Further Information on UA 79/05 (MDE 31/003/2005, 5 April 2005) and follow-up (MDE 31/004/2005, 7 April 2005) – Fear of imminent execution
YEMEN
Hafez Ibrahim (m)
The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence against Hafez Ibrahim. Neither he nor his lawyer was reportedly informed of the court’s decision until yesterday, when the lawyer learnt that the execution is imminent.
Hafez Ibrahim was sentenced to death in 2005 for a murder he allegedly committed when he was 16. His death sentence was ratified by the President and was reportedly scheduled to be carried out on 6 April 2005.
However the former Minister of Human Rights had told Amnesty International that after this UA was issued on 5 April 2005, she appealed personally to the President to stay the execution. She also said that Hafez Ibrahim’s age was disputed. She undertook to seek commutation of the death sentence, by obtaining a pardon from the family of the murder victim. On 7 April 2005 the Yemeni president stayed Hafez Ibrahim’s execution to allow time for an agreement to be reached in the case.
Relatives of the victim have reportedly refused to pardon Hafez Ibrahim, and in July 2007 the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence against Hafez.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Yemen has made significant progress in the prohibition of the use of the death penalty against juveniles, but courts continue to sentence children to death. The legal progress to prohibit the use of the death penalty against children followed the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the government in 1991. At that time the prohibition of the use of the death penalty against juveniles was limited to offenders below the age of 15 at the time of the crime. However, this categorical prohibition was extended in 1994 to include children below the age of 18 at the time of the commission of capital offences. This is stipulated in Article 31 of the Penal Code, Law 12 of 1994, and marks a positive progress bringing Yemen’s laws into line with Article 37 of the CRC and Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which categorically prohibit the use of the death penalty against anyone under 18 years of age at the time of commission of any capital offence.
Yemen’s legislative progress in this regard has not been consistently matched by the practice of the courts, which have sometimes imposed the death penalty on offenders who were below the age of 18 at the time of the offence.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send fresh appeals quickly:
- urging the authorities to protect Hafez Ibrahim from execution;
- expressing grave concern that the death sentence imposed on Hafez Ibrahim was upheld contrary to Article 31 of the Yemeni Penal Code, Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit the use of the death penalty against juveniles and call for the death sentence to be replaced by a penalty consistent with international standards for the administration of juvenile justice;
– urging the President to commute all outstanding death sentences and establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty, as called for by Paragraph 5(b) of resolution 2001/68 of the Commission on Human Rights.
APPEALS TO:
President: His Excellency General ´Ali ´Abdullah Saleh President of the Republic of Yemen Sana’a Republic of Yemen Fax: 011 967 127 4147 Salutation: Your Excellency . Attorney General: His Excellency Abdullah al-Ulufi Office of Attorney General Sanaa, Republic of Yemen Fax: 011 967 137 4412 Salutation: Your Excellency . Minister of Interior: His Excellency Dr Rashid Muhammad al-Alimi Ministry of Interior Sana’a Republic of Yemen Fax: 011 967 1 332 511 Salutation: Your Excellency . Minister of Human Rights: Her Excellency Houda ‘Ali ‘Abdullatif al- Baan Ministry for Human Rights Sana’a, Republic of Yemen Faxes: 011 967 1 444 838 Salutation: Your Excellency . COPIES TO: His Excellency Dr. Abdulla Abdulwali Nasher Ambassador for Yemen 54 Chamberlain Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1S 1V9 Fax: (613) 729-8915 E-mail: info@yemenincanada.caThank you for standing by, ready to respond again on behalf of Hafez Ibrahim.
Canadian July 17 TV coverage of Sina Paymard
Aubrey Harris, the campaign coordinator for Amnesty International, Canadian Section was interviewed on CBC Newsworld on the day that Sina Paymard was scheduled to be executed. Since then due to international pressure Sina was granted 10 days extension which resulted in raising the blood money funds needed to spare Sina’s life. Aubrey Harris met Nazanin Afshin-Jam last month and he closely works with SCE Campaign to stop child executions in Iran.
Amnesty International issues Urgent Action on another Iranian teenager
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL IMMINENT EXECUTION 20 JULY 2007
Mosleh Zamani, who was sentenced to death in 2006, is now is facing imminent execution. His sentence was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court in early July. His sentence, which was delivered on 17 July to judicial authorities charged with carrying out verdicts, could be carried out at any time. He is held in Sanandaj. He was reportedly found guilty of abducting a woman some 10 years older than him, with whom he was allegedly having a relationship, and forcing her to have sex with him.
There are conflicting reports as to whether Mosleh Zamani was aged 17 or 18 at the time the alleged abduction took place. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Both of these prohibit the use of the death penalty against child offenders: people under 18 at the time of the offence of which they have been convicted.
A member of his family has suggested to Amnesty International that Mosleh Zamani had inadequate legal representation during his trial and appeals.
Mosleh Zamani’s family reportedly staged a demonstration outside the judiciary’s office in Sanandaj on 17 July, to protest that as the verdict had been delivered to the officials charged with carrying it out, his execution could be imminent.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Kurdish, English, French, or your own language:
– stating that Amnesty International acknowledges the right and responsibility of governments to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences, but opposes the death penalty unconditionally as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violation of the right to life;.
– calling on the authorities to commute Mosleh Zamani’s death sentence immediately; – asking how old Mosleh Zamani was at the time of the offence, since the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a state party, prohibit the use of the death penalty against anyone under the age of 18 at the time of offence, and it would therefore be a violation of international law to execute Mosleh Zamani, if he was under 18 at the time of the offence.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: info@leader.ir istiftaa@wilayah.org Fax: +98 251 774 2228 (mark “FAO 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, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Salutation: Your Excellency COPIES TO: President His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Fax: +981 6 674 790 (Foreign Ministry. Mark “Forward to H.E. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”) Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir, via website: www.president.ir/email Salutation: Your Excellency . Governor of Kurdistan Esmail Najjar Email: In Persian or Kurdish, use feedback form on Persian part of website: http://www.ostan-kd.ir/Default.aspx?tabId=150&cv=4@0_1 In other languages, use the feedback form on English part of website: http://en.ostan-kd.ir/Default.aspx?TabID=59 Salutation: Dear Governor . COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 31 August 2007.URGENT ACTION: Email to Iranian Embassy in UK
Amnesty International UK has set up a direct email to Iranian Embassador in UK. Please visit the website and sign the urgent email request to stop Sina Paymard’s execution:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=301
Sina Paymard's Lawyer: "Sina has been told that he will be executed tonight,"
LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) – Amnesty International made an urgent appeal on Tuesday against the planned execution of an Iranian teenager convicted of murder when he was 16.
“Should this execution be carried out, it would be in complete violation of international law,” Amnesty said in a statement.
“It would also be a morally unjustifiable, abhorrent act carried out by a government against one of its young citizens.”
Sina Paymard, a musician and drug addict with a history of psychological problems, according to his lawyer, was arrested in 2004 after stabbing a drug dealer in a Tehran park. His execution is expected to take place on Tuesday.
He was nearly hanged in September last year. But, as a last request he was allowed to play the ney, a Middle Eastern flute, and his playing so moved the family of the victim that he was granted a last-minute reprieve, Amnesty said.
Paymard’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, said he was now scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, although it was still not certain.
“Sina has been told that he will be executed tonight,” Sotoudeh told Reuters. “The fact that an 18-year-old goes to the execution chamber, whether executed or not, is terrifying.”
The family of the victim have said they will accept a payment equivalent to $160,000, allowing the sentence to be commuted, but Paymard’s family can’t raise sufficient funds.
“Issuing death sentence for juveniles under 18 years of age is banned under the convention on children’s rights, to which Iran is a signatory,” Sotoudeh said. “Sina was under that age when he received the death sentence.”
Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world, according to Amnesty. Since the beginning of 2007, at least 124 people have been put to death. In 2006, 177 were executed.
The rights group said that while it recognised Iran’s right to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, the death penalty was a violation of the right to life and the “ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment”.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ALERT: SINA PAYMARD
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130872007?open&of=ENG-IRN
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
News Flash
AI Index: MDE 13/087/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 135
17 July 2007
Iran: Execution of child offender imminent
Amnesty International has just learned that 18-year-old Sina Paymard, who was sentenced to death in Iran for a crime committed when he was just 16 years old, may be executed within the next few hours.
“Should this execution be carried out it would be in complete violation of international law,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “It would also be a morally unjustifiable, abhorrent act carried out by a government against one of its young citizens.”
“The Iranian government must take immediate steps to halt this execution.”
Sina Paymard, a musician, was nearly executed in September last year for murder. On the gallows, Sina’s last request was to play the ney (a Middle Eastern flute) for the last time. The family of the victim was so moved by his playing that they granted him a last minute reprieve. Instead, they asked for 150 million toumans (over $US 160,000) as compensation. Sina’s family, however, has not been able to raise the full amount.
Background
Iran continues to have one of the highest rates of executions in the world. Amnesty International has recorded at least 124 executions since the beginning of 2007, suggesting that by the end of this year the total number of executions could exceed the total of 177 executions that Amnesty International recorded in 2006.
Two recent victims of the Iranian authorities’ use of the death penalty were child offenders, whose alleged crimes were committed before the age of 18, and a third was a man who was stoned to death. The two child offenders — Mohammad Mousavi and Sa’id Qanbar Zahi — were executed in April and May respectively, in direct contravention of international law, which requires that no-one should be executed for crimes committed while under the age of 18.
While Amnesty International recognizes the right of governments to bring to justice those suspected of serious crimes, it opposes the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
For a full account of the Sina Paymard case and Amnesty International’s concerns regarding executions of child offenders in Iran, please see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde130592007
VERY URGENT: SINA PAYMARD SENT TO BE EXECUTED NOW
In an urgent letter Nasrin Sotudeh, Sina Paymard’s lawyer wrote that Sina has been taken from Reja’i Shahr prison to Evin prison to be executed. His execution order has been apparently signed by Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi.
She wrote that the execution could be carried out in the next 10 hours. Sina Paymard’s family have managed to raise 70 million of the 150 million diyeh, which his victim’s family will not accept.
Amnesty International is trying to contact as many EU governments as possible to get them to make urgent interventions on the case. They also are contacting the UN Special Rapporteur on EJEs asking him to urgently intervene.
SCE and Nazanin Afshin-Jam is also making all efforts to make international contacts before Sina gets executed.
TIME IS SO SHORT
HERE ARE SOME URGENT STEPS THAT YOU CAN TAKE :
CALL YOUR IMPORTANT CONTACTS .
CALL AYATOLLAH KHAMENEI LEADER OF ISLAMIC REGIME IN IRAN:
Phone: [00 98 21] 64411
Fax: [00 98 251] 7774 2228
Email: istiftaa@wilayah.org
Email via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=sendletter
CALL YOUR NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES SUCH AS SENATORS ETC.
CONTACT MEDIA
For more information about Sina Paymard click here:
Canadian radio interviews Amnesty on child Executions in Iran
Aubr
ey Harris, the stop child execution campaign coordinator of Amnesty International Canada was interviewed about the recent Amnesty International report issued on the child executions in Iran.
Nazanin Afshin-Jam met Aubrey Harris last month discussing the joint efforts of Amnesty International and SCE campaign to stop child executions in Iran.
To listen to the interview please forward past 7th minute of the program: http
://www.am770chqr.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiovault_process.asp?dt=20070628_19