Site icon Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

Interrogators Are Guilty and Criminals

          
          11/10/2009
          Interrogators Are Guilty and Criminals
          RNZTh2
          Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009
          report
          November 10, 2009
          Interrogators Are Guilty and Criminals
          Fereshteh Ghazi
          I
          — As executions rise in Iran, RoozOnline spoke with senior ayatollah Montazeri on the subject who
          stressed that, “there is no religious or legal basis for these judgments.” According to Amnesty
          International, “in just the last 50 days, some 115 people have been executed in Iran which breaks
          down to about 2 per day” Even though Iran has had the second highest executions in the world,
          this number and status has increased since the June 12 contested presidential elections, and the
          figures are unprecedented even in the Islamic republic of Iran.
          The judgments of death penalty for 5 suspects in the second kangaroo trial session of protestors
          questioning the elections, were issued despite the declaration by attorneys that these detainees had
          nothing to do with the post-election events and protests and they had all been arrested prior to the elections turmoil
          In his interview with Roo4 regarding the confessions which have served as the basis for the heavy sentences after the
          elections, ayatollah Montazeri said, “The confessions that have been extracted in prison have absolutely no religious or legal
          value and cannot be the basis for the death or prison punishments that have been issued.” According to Montazeri, “those
          who are responsible and their accomplices for such confessions, are religiously and legally guilty and criminal”
          This highest religious authority in the Qom Theological Center, and a former deputy leader of Iran during ayatollah
          Khomeini's early rule also commented on the execution of minors and told Roo4 ‘Whenever the execution of a religious
          punishment leads to negative consequences on religion or society, the judge can and must stop the execution”
          The execution of younger-than 18-year old youth in Iran has been a controversial issue in the Islamic republic. And while
          Iran has officially signed the international convention on the rights of children, which bans executions of minors, such youth
          have been kept in prisons until they come to the age of 18 after which they have been executed. According to article 37of
          the convention, the execution of the death penalty for individuals younger than 18 years of age is banned. The Iranian
          judiciary, on the other hand, references its Islamic penal code which provides for eye-for-an-eye type of punishment and
          executes those younger than the age of 18.
          back to rooz start page
          roozonline.com/.. ./interrogators-are-g...
          1/2
        
          
          11/10/2009 Interrogators Are Guilty and Criminals
          roozonline.com/.../interrogators-are-g... 2/2
        

Download Attachments:

Exit mobile version