Iran: stop the killings!

Submitted by Matthew on 4 November, 2010 - 2:52 Author: Maryam Namazie
Sakineh

As Solidarity goes to press, the Islamic regime of Iran plans to put Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to death. The authorities in Tehran have given the go-ahead to Tabriz prison for the execution.


More here
Another man has already served a prison sentence and is now free for her husband’s murder.

Ashtiani’s son Sajjad Ghaderzadeh and her lawyer Houtan Kian have been tortured in order to obtain confessions against Sakineh and themselves since their arrests on 10 October along with two German journalists.

Sajjad and Houtan Kian’s only “crime” has been to defend Ashtiani and proclaim her innocence with facts and evidence.

The International Committee Against Stoning and Execution calls on international bodies and the people of the world to come out in force against the state-sponsored murder of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Ashtiani, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, Houtan Kian and the two German journalists must be released.

1. Contact government officials, MPs, MEPs. Governments must summon the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador.

2. Send letters to the Islamic regime of Iran: Head of the Judiciary, Sadeqh Larijani — email: info@dadiran.ir / www.dadiran.ir/tabid/75/Default.aspx

[First starred box: given name; second starred box: family name; third: your email address]

Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader; email via website: www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

www.iransolidarity.org.uk, iransolidarity.blogspot.com

Comments

Submitted by guenter on Tue, 09/11/2010 - 19:11

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the following below i found 2 weeks ago in the net. its a text, which internationally already has several thousands of signatures, including superstars as peter gabriel, yoko ono or london-based author/screenplay hanif kureishi. i signed both e-mails they asked for and both had been immediately returned to me. above is 1 of them.
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We are writing to you, respected and religious men versed in Sharia law, about the serious legal flaws in the case against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani now under sentence of death by stoning for alleged adultery.

The death sentence by stoning against Sakineh was passed in 2006 by a court in East Azerbaijan. The case was against her alone without specifying with whom she committed adultery. Prior to her trial, Sakineh was forced to make a confession under extreme duress. She retracted this confession during the adultery trial.

The Order of the Court in the adultery trial indicates that two out of the five judges disagreed with the conviction and sentence on the basis of a total lack of evidence or any witnesses proving that she had committed adultery.

Recently, following the international outcry about the proposal to carry out her sentence of death by stoning, the East Azerbaijan judiciary have suddenly and falsely claimed that Sakineh's death sentence is connected not with the adultery charge, but with the killing of her husband. However, according to actual court documents, the death conviction is related to adultery only. The case opened in connection with the murder of her husband was tried by a different court and closed in 2006. No death sentence against her was ever issued in this case. Bringing back a case which has long been closed appears to be an attempt by the Eastern Azerbaijan's judiciary to distract public opinion from the stoning sentence for an alleged crime of adultery, a decision it cannot justify.

Your Excellencies...today few Muslim countries sentence people to death by stoning and most nations have banned the death penalty as a form of punishment for the crime of adultery.

We respectfully ask for your intervention in the light of the forced confession, the lack of evidence or any witnesses to the alleged adultery, and the fact that Sakineh has spent many years in prison where she has been and continues to be subjected to harsh and cruel punishments. We respectfully urge you to call on the Eastern Azerbaijan judiciary to free this woman.

محضر محترم حضرت آیت الله . . . . دامت افاضاته

این عریضه را برای جلب توجه حضرت عالی و برخی دیگر ازحضرات آیات عظام به نقائص فاحش در پروندۀ سکینۀ محمدی آشتیانی، که به اتهام ارتکاب زنای محصنه درشهر تبریز درمعرض سنگسار قرار دارد، تقدیم می کنیم.
توضیحاٌ و با احترام به استحضار حضرت آیت الله می رسانیم که مجازات سنگسار مشارُالیها در سال 1385 از سوی دادگاه کیفری آذربایجان شرقی صادر شد. در پروندۀ تنظیم شده علیه مشارُاالیها نامی از طرف دیگر چرم زنا نا برده نشده است. علاوه براین، قبل از آغاز محاکمه سکینه محمدی آشتیانی تحت فشار محبور به اعتراف به ارتکاب جرمی شده که هرگز صورت نگرفته و مشاراُالیها در طی محاکمه با تصریح به اجباری بودن اعتراف ادعائی آن را پس گرفته است.
دو تن از بنج عضو دادگاه مذکور، با استناد به فقدان مدارک و اسناد مثبتۀ جرم و نبودن شاهدان عینی در دادگاه، به حکم محکومیت و مجازات سکینۀ محمدی آشتیانی رأی منفی داده اند.
اخیراً، به دنبال اعتراض های گستردۀ بین المللی به حکم سنگسار مشاراُ الیها، مقامات دادگستری آذربایجان شرقی ناگهان و به خطا ادعا کرده اند که حکم اعدام سکینۀ محمدی آشتیانی با قتل شوهر وی مرتبط بوده است و نه با اتهام ارتکاب زنا. معهاذا، با توجه به جریان و اوراق محاکمه، واقعیت مسلم آن است که حکم اعدام تنها به ارتکاب زنا مرتبط بوده و نه جرم دیگری. پروندۀ قتل شوهر مشاراُالیها در دادگاه دیگری پی گیری و در سال 1385 مختومه اعلام گردید بی آن که حکم اعدامی علیه مشاراُ الیها صادر شود. بازکردن مجدد پرونده ای که مدت ها از تعیین تکلیف و خاتمه آن گذشته است دال بر آن است که مقامات دادگستری آذربایجان شرقی تنها قصد داشته اند که افکار عمومی را از ناعادلانه بودن مجازان سنگسار در مورد اتهام به ثبوت نرسیدۀ زنای سکینۀ محمدی آشتیانی منحرف کنند.
حضرت آیت الله . . .
امروز معدود است شمار کشورهای اسلامی که در آن به سنگسار مجرمان دست زنند. در واقع در بسیاری از جوامع دنیا اعدام به عنوان یک کیفر قانونی برای ارتکاب جرم زنا لغو شده است.
ما با جلب توجه آن پیشوای روحانی به اِعمال فشار برای اجبار متهم به اعتراف نادرست، فقدان اسناد و بیّنۀ مثبتۀ جرم و غیبت شهود عینی ارتکاب جرم از جلسات دادرسی و به این واقعیت که سکینه محمدی آشتیانی سالیانی از عمر خویش را بی گناه در زندان به سر برده و متحمل آزار و ایذای بسیار شده است، با نهایت احترام از حضرت عالی به عنوان آخرین ملجأ تظلم و دادخواهی استدعا داریم که مقامات قضائی تبریز را به آزاد کردن سکینه محمدی آشتیانی تشویق و راهنمائی فرمائید.

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