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His Excellency Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi
Head of the Judiciary
Ministry of Justice
Panzdah Khordad Square, Building 2
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellency:
Human Rights Watch is gravely concerned about the July 5, 2007 execution by public stoning of Jafar Kiani, which was carried out less than a month after your Excellency intervened to suspend his sentence. As a result we greatly fear that Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, who was sentenced to death along with Jafar Kiani in 1996, is also in imminent danger of execution by public stoning. We urge you to act quickly to prevent Mokarrameh Ebrahimi’s execution.
Eleven years ago, Branch 1 of the Criminal Court in Takistan, a city in the province of Ghazvin, condemned Jafar Kiani and Mokarrameh Ebrahimi to death by stoning on charges of adultery. Since that time, the couple has awaited their sentences in Ghazvin prison. The couple’s two children have been with their mother in prison throughout this period.
In mid-June, the Ghazvin Municipal Security Council publicly announced that the stoning sentences of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and Jafar Kiani would be carried out on June 21. Less than twenty-four hours before the scheduled executions, Your Excellency’s written order, addressed to the head of the Judiciary branch in Takistan, stayed the executions. Human Rights Watch welcomed your actions.
In spite of the stay of execution, on July 5 officials stoned to death Jafar Kiani in Aghche-Kand, a small village located near Takistan.
The execution by stoning of Jafar Kiani violates Iran’s obligations under international human rights treaties that it has ratified. Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states in Article 6 that “in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes.” According to Article 7 of the covenant, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its cruel and inhumane nature. We find that stoning is a particularly cruel form of capital punishment. Human rights principles and protections are founded upon respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person.
We therefore urge you to take immediate steps to prevent the execution of Mokarrameh Ebrahimi. Your Excellency’s 2002 ban on stoning was an important step in this direction, but Jafar Kiani’s case shows that officials still impose and carry out this form of punishment. For this reason we again urge you to take the necessary steps to remove stoning as a form of punishment permitted under Iranian laws.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Sarah Leah Whitson
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa Division
