Iran: 10 death sentences after one-day trials without witnesses

Human Rights Watch said the trials of suspects linked to attacks in 2005 in Khuzistan were unfair and demanded that they be revoked. One of the men condemned was in prison when the attack he was accused of took place. Iran is the country with the highest number of executions in the world after China.

Teheran (AsiaNews/HRW) – Iran's justice system has given evidence that sheds a very bad light on its workings. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has drawn attention to another shocking case, calling for the stay of execution and the revoking of the death sentence handed down to 10 people after trials behind closed doors that did not respect the rights of the accused. It has been learned that one such trial lasted only one day and no witnesses were admitted.

On November 9, Abbas Jaafari Dowlatabadi, head of the Judiciary in the southern province of Khuzistan, said Iran's Supreme Court had confirmed the execution sentence of 10 Iranian Arabs, convicted of carrying out bombings in Ahwaz, the provincial capital, in 2005.

But Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the HRW Middle East and North Africa division, said: "Iran's opaque judicial system denies people due process and then hands down a death sentence after a one-day trial."  Iranian advocates told HRW that this trial was held behind closed doors and without any independent or impartial observers present.  The trial started on 7 June and on 8 June, the

Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz sentenced Zamel Bawi, Jaafar Sawari, Risan Sawari and Abdulreza Nawaseri to death. No witnesses were called. There is no information about the trials of the other men sentenced to death.  

According to local sources, one of the convicted men, Nazem Bureihi, has been imprisoned since 2000 and was serving a 35-year sentence for "insurgency against the state" at the time of his alleged crime.  Whitson said she could not understand how "a person can be accused of carrying out bombings while he's in prison."

During the past two years, Khuzistan has witnessed unrest among two million Iranians of Arab descent in the province. Protests erupted on April 15, 2005, following publication of a letter by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an advisor to the then President Mohammad Khatami. The letter revealed government plans to reduce the proportion of ethnic Arabs in the area. Security forces opened fire on demonstrators and clashes between protesters and security forces turned violent and spread to other cities. The next day, Abtahi said the letter was "fake". But protests continued and in June 2005, four bombs went off in Ahwaz and another two in Teheran killing 10 people and wounding at least 90. There were more bombings in Ahwaz in October 2005 and January 2006, killing 12 people. The government has arrested hundreds of Iranian Arabs since April, 2005.

Iran carries out more executions annually than any other nation but China.

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