Kurdish man Reza Rasaei, from the Yaresan religious minority, is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising after the Supreme Court rejected a request for judicial review on January 16. His death sentence was issued following a grossly unfair trial that relied on his torture-tainted forced “confessions” obtained under beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, suspension, and sexual violence.
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contact information:
Head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei
c/o Embassy of Iran to the European Union, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt No. 15, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Supreme Leader ‘Ali Khamenei
c/o Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 3rd Ave, 34th floor, New York, NY 10017
Email: [email protected]
sample letter:
Dear Mr. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,
Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei, aged 34, from Iran’s oppressed Kurdish and Yaresan ethnic and religious minorities respectively, is at imminent risk of execution. On October 7, 2023, Branch Two of Criminal Court One in Kermanshah province convicted Reza Rasaei and sentenced him to death in connection with the death of the commander of the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards in Sahneh, Kermanshah province, during a protest on November 18, 2022. Reza Rasaei has repeatedly denied any involvement and stated, including during trial, that his forced “confessions” were extracted through torture and other ill-treatment. Authorities have flagrantly violated Reza Rasaei’s fair trial rights. Courts have also unlawfully relied on forced “confessions” extracted from Reza Rasaei and others under torture and other ill-treatment to convict him.
Reza Rasaei was arrested in November 2022. According to an informed source, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for the first four months of his detention. During this time, agents from the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards interrogated him and subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment, including electric shocks, suffocation by placing a plastic bag over his head, prolonged suspension, severe beatings, and sexual violence, to compel his forced “confessions”. Since his arrest, authorities have denied him access to adequate healthcare, including for his torture-related injuries. No investigations are known to have been carried out into his torture allegations.
I urge you to immediately halt any plans to carry out Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei’s execution and quash his conviction and death sentence. Pending his release, grant him regular access to his family, chosen lawyer, and adequate medical care; protect him from further torture and other ill-treatment; and investigate his torture allegations. Finally, I urge you to grant independent observers access to capital trials connected to protests.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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