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Halt executions, Italy tells Iran
3.8.2007
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August 3, 2007
Rome, Italy, -- Italy on Thursday urged Iran
to stop putting people to death, citing Rome's 'deep
uneasiness' with a spate of executions in the
Islamic Republic in recent weeks, including those
accused of being homosexuals.
"On the instruction of [Italian foreign] Minister
[Massimo] D'Alema, the Farnesina (the foreign
ministry) today protested to the deputy chief of
Iran's embassy in Rome, Hossein Mafi Moghaddam,
Italy's deep uneasiness with the executions that
have been taking place in Iran over the last weeks",
the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Among the executions that had prompted Italy's
concern were those that "cited homosexuality as a
charge" against people sentenced to death, the
statement added.
"In additon real concern was expressed [to Mafi
Moghaddam] for the sentencing to death of two
Kurdish journalists accused of spying", the
statement said.
The two Kurdish journalists, identified by
international rights groups as Adnan Hassanpour and
Abdolvahed Botimar, were sentenced earlier this
month by a revolutionary court in Iranian Kurdistan.
Earlier on Thursday two men convicted of murdering a
top Iranian judge in 2005 were hanged in public in
central Tehran, the first public executions in the
Iranian capital in five years.
More than 140 people have been executed in Iran so
far this year, including many convicted on charges
of 'hooliganism' a term authorities use to describe
offences ranging from drinking alcohol - a practice
banned in the Islamic Republic - to extortion,
sexual harassment and abuse. |
Massimo D'Alema, Italian Foreign Minister
Kurdish journalists
Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death
by the Iranian Islamic regime |
People accused of engaging in homosexual acts have
also been charged with 'hooliganism'.
Last year Iran carried out 177 death sentences,
according to figures published by Amnesty
International.
Thousands could hang, rights activist warns
It is difficult to keep
count of the amount of people being hanged in Iran
in recent days, but the situation could become even
worse warns human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari.
"Several thousand people have been arrested over the
past three months, all charged with the vaguely
defined crime of 'hooliganism', or described as
'socially dangerous elements' Nazar Ahari said.
"All these people risk the gallows after a summary
trial in which they won't be allowed to use a lawyer
to defend them", she said.
As part of the government's ongoing 'moralisation
campaign' to curb practices which are not compatible
with Islam, it says 16 people, described as
'hooligans', were hanged on 22 July, topping the
total of 140 so far this year.
Last year Iran carried out 177 death sentences,
according to figures published by Amnesty
International.
The term 'hooliganism' has been used to describe
offences ranging from drinking alcohol - a practice
banned in the Islamic republic - to extortion,
sexual harassment and abuse. People accused of
engaging in homosexual acts have also been charged
with 'hooliganism'.
"The relatives of these young people [most of those
executed are between the ages of 20 and 30]
sentenced to death for such unclear specified
crimes, are only informed once their son, daughter
or relative has been hanged," Nazar Ahari said.
"Only after photos [taken illicitly with a cell
phone camera] of a recent mass hanging in Teheran,
were published did people realise that two of those
executed, both members of the [autonomist inclined]
Bakhatari tribe, had been in prison for the last
eight years after being arrested for 'armed
resistance'," she said.
"From the information we obtained in Tehran, it
appears many of the young people arrested in over
the last three months are being held in the Kharizak
detention centre situated on the outskirts of the
capital.
"Up to 40 prisoners are forced to share a 15-square
metre cell, and are given just one meal a day. Often
they are also lashed," she said.
"We've also received reports six of these prisoners,
aged between 20 and 25, died of infections related
to the lashings they had been subjected to", Nazar
Ahari said.
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Iranian Kurdistan
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Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
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