• Urgent Action

Urgent Action: SIX AHWAZI ARABS AT GRAVE RISK OF EXECUTION (Iran: UA 49.23)

May 26, 2023

Six men – Ali Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Salem Mousavi, Adnan Ghobeishavi and Habib Deris – from Iran’s persecuted Ahwazi Arab minority face imminent execution. A Revolutionary Court used their torture- tainted “confessions” to sentence them to death in February after a grossly unfair trial. Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld their convictions and sentences, meaning they could be executed at any time.

TAKE ACTION:
  1. Please take action as-soon-as possible. This Urgent Action expires on July 7, 2023.
  2. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to the government official listed below. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
  3. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 49.23. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.
CONTACT INFORMATION
H.E. Majid Takht Ravanchi Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran 622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212 687-2020 I Fax: 212 867 7086 Email: [email protected] , [email protected] Twitter: @Iran_UN , @TakhtRavanchi Salutation: Dear Ambassador
SAMPLE LETTER Dear Ambassador Ravanchi, Ahwazi Arab men Adnan Ghobeishavi, 25, Moein Khanfari, 28, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, 29, Salem Mousavi, 39, Habib Deris, 42, and Ali Mojadam, 43, and are at imminent risk of execution. On 14 February, a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, sentenced them to death on the charge of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in relation to armed operations carried out by a separatist group that led to deaths among security forces. The men have denied the charges and informed sources told Amnesty International that they were not members of the separatist group. On 6 March, the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences. On 6 May, authorities secretly executed Swedish-Iranian Ahwazi Arab dissident, Habib Chaab (Asyoud), whom the judiciary alleged was one of the European leaders of the separatist group, after a grossly unfair trial marred by torture allegations. On the same day, authorities moved the six men from Section 5 of Sheiban prison, Khuzestan province, to its quarantine section, raising fears of plans to carry out their executions. Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Adnan Ghobeishavi and Habib Deris were returned to the general ward on 9 May but the rest remain in quarantine with no news of their fate. Their group trial was grossly unfair. The men were denied lawyers of their own choosing and were never allowed access to their court-appointed lawyer, even at trial. The authorities have barred them and their lawyer from accessing their casefile and verdict. According to a statement from the judiciary, their “confessions”, which informed sources told Amnesty International were extracted under torture and other ill-treatment while they were forcibly disappeared, were used as evidence against them in court. Informed sources told Amnesty International that Revolutionary Guards agents subjected Habib Deris to sleep deprivation, waterboarding, electric shocks, beatings, and hung him upside down while submerging his head into water. Sources said they gave Moein Khanfari electric shocks and tied him in a stress position while beating and flogging him. Amnesty International also received information indicating that agents gave Ali Mojadam electric shocks to his ears and detained his wife and child to force him to give “confessions” in front of a video camera, which was broadcast in a propaganda video on state television prior to trial. I urge you to immediately halt any plans to execute Ali Mojadam, Moein Khanfari, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Salem Mousavi, Adnan Ghobeishavi and Habib Deris, quash their convictions and death sentences, and release them, as the violations of their fair trial rights renders their detention arbitrary. Pending their release, I urge you to provide them access to their families, lawyers of their own choosing, and adequate medical care, and protect them from further torture and other ill-treatment and investigate their torture allegations, bringing anyone found responsible to justice in fair trials. I urge you to grant independent observers access to the men in Sheiban prison and immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view of abolishing the death penalty. Yours sincerely, ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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