URGENT ACTION

Iran: Further information on Death penalty / fear of imminent execution

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/085/2006
1 August 2006

Further Information on UA 57/06 (MDE 13/023/06, 10 March 2006) and follow-up
(MDE 13/073/2006, 29 June 2006) - Death Penalty/ Fear of imminent execution

IRAN Dr Awdeh Afrawi (m) aged 52
Nazem Bureihi (m)
Aliredha Salman Delfi (m)
Ali Helfi (m)
Jaafar Sawari (m)
Risan Sawari (m), teacher
Mohammad Ali Sawari (m), teacher
Moslem al-Ha’i (m)
Abdulredha Nawaseri (m), aged 31

New names: Yahia Nasseri (m)
Abdulzahra Helichi (m)
Abdul-Imam Za’eri (m)
At the end of July, the Supreme Court reportedly upheld the death sentences
against Nazem Bureihi, Mohammad Ali Sawari, Yahia Nasseri, Abdulzahra Helichi
and Abdul-Imam Za’eri. Amnesty International is concerned that they are at risk
of imminent execution.
The men were reportedly sentenced to death at the beginning of June by a
Revolutionary Court in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. They were charged
with acting against national security, "waging war against God" ("mohareb") and
carrying out bombings in Ahvaz, which took place between June and October
2005. No details of which bombings they were alleged to have participated in
were made public nor was the exact date of their execution revealed.

Amnesty International currently has no further information about Yahia Nasseri,
Abdulzahra Helichi and Abdul-Imam Za’eri. However, Mohammad Ali Sawari was
reportedly arrested on or around 4 November 2005. Nazem Bureihi has reportedly
been in custody since 2000 having been arrested on charges of "insurgency".
Though he was serving a 35 year prison sentence, he was among nine men shown on
Khuzestan Provincial TV on 1 March 2006, "confessing" to involvement in the
October 2005 bombings.

Given the secretive nature of the trials in Iran, the current stage of the
legal proceedings against the other men is unclear to Amnesty International.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Much of Iran's Arab community lives in the province of Khuzestan which borders
Iraq. It is strategically important because it is the site of much of Iran’s
oil reserves, but the Arab population does not feel it has benefited as much
from the oil revenue as the Persian population. Historically, the Arab
community has been marginalised and discriminated against. Tension has mounted
among the Arab population since April 2005, after it was alleged that the
government planned to disperse the country's Arab population or to force them
to relinquish their Arab identity. Hundreds have been arrested and there have
been reports of torture.
Following bomb explosions in Ahvaz City in June and October 2005, which killed
at least 14 people, and explosions at oil installations in September and
October, the cycle of violence has intensified, with hundreds of people
reportedly arrested. Further bombings on 24 January 2006, in which at least six
people were killed, were followed by further mass arrests. Two men, Mehdi
Nawaseri and Ali Awdeh Afrawi, were executed in public on 2 March after they
were convicted of involvement in the October bombings. Their executions
followed unfair trials before a Revolutionary Court during which they are
believed to have been denied access to lawyers, and their confessions, along
with those of seven other men, were broadcast on television.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130852006?open&of=ENG-IRN

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