The man condemned to death together with Mokarrameh Ebrahimi has been stoned. The double execution was suspended by the regime following strong international pressure on their behalf. Now there are fears for the life of the woman. Meanwhile, control over universities has been stepped up to prevent possible rallies from taking place. Yesterday was the anniversary of the student tragedy on 9 July 1999, and several university students were arrested, their whereabouts are unknown.

Teheran (AsiaNews) – The days of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, an Iranian “adulteress” condemned to death by stoning, may be counted. The woman’s sentence was suspended at the end of June after strong international pressure was exerted on the regime of Teheran. Fears about her life have grown with confirmation of the execution of her lover, Jafar Keniani – who was also condemned to death but “temporarily spared” by the mullahs – reported by the government daily newspaper, Etemade Melli and reiterated today by official authorities.

The 47-year-old man was executed in Takestan, in the west of the country, on 5 July at 11am. The stoning was conducted by governmental and judiciary officials; local sources said many members of the public refused to take part.

Jafar had been detained in Choubin prison in Qazvin prison for 11 years, with Mokarrameh, 43. The two were found guilty of adultery “beyond reasonable doubt”, due to an extra-marital relationship that produced a son. After protests from the European Union, the UN and Human Rights Watch, the supreme judicial authority of Iran, ayatollah Shahroudi, decided in extremis to postpone the public execution, which had been fixed for 21 June.

The death of Jafar Keniani has prompted the mobilisation of human rights groups including Amnesty International, which yesterday launched an appeal to the Iranian authorities to overturn the death sentence hanging over the woman and to clarify the fate of Jafar Keniani. Oslo has also taken up the case, through its ambassador in Iran, Kristian Holthe. The daily newspaper Rooz, however, has reported the concern of the lawyers of Mokarrameh, who have not talked to their client for eight months and who cannot even consult her file.

The student repression

Iranian political analysts see the execution of Jafar Keniani as a “new provocation from the regime of the mullahs, which pretends to comply with the demands of the international community, only to do as it pleases later.” According to Davood Karimi, chairman of the Association of Iranian political refugees in Italy, it is a matter of “measures to terrify the population, instruments of domestic repression, on which the system of the Iranian Islamic republic is based.”

It is in this perspective that the repression of a rally held yesterday should be viewed. The rally was organised to mark the eighth anniversary of an attack by religious forces on a university dormitory in Tehran. An unknown number of “reformist” students have been arrested and it is not clear where they are being detained. The students told Radio Farda: “They wanted to prevent any kind of manifestation on this historic date.” Members of the Bassij paramilitary corps and of the security forces were stationed outside the main universities of the country, which have always been hotbeds of protest. The government also ordered the early summer closure of the Institutes and university dormitories to discourage possible popular uprisings. Sporadic rallies were anyhow held in Teheran, Razie and Dehloran, with clashes between students and security forces.

• IRAN
• rights
• human
• stoning
• repression
• democracy
• reforms
• students