PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/023/2001
11 July 2001

Further information on EXTRA 05/01 (MDE 13/004/2001, 16 January 2001) and follow-ups (MDE 13/006/2001, 18 January 2001; MDE 13/011/2001, 22 March 2001; MDE 13/018/2001, 25 May 2001)

Imminent Execution

IRAN

Maryam Ayoubi (f), aged 31
Hossein Esna 'Ashari, aged 24
Two men aged 20-30, names not known
Ali Hassanzadeh, aged 25
Mostafa Nikbakht, aged 22
Mir Jalil Sayed Nazari, aged 22

New name: Robabeh (f)

Amnesty International is outraged to learn that Maryam Ayoubi was stoned to death in Evin prison this morning. This is the second stoning to have taken place in Iran in the past two months.

In the light of this news, Amnesty International is gravely concerned at Iranian press reports of 24 June that a woman named only as 'Robabeh' has been sentenced to receive 50 lashes, followed by death by stoning, for adultery and being an accessory to the murder of her husband. Her unnamed male accomplice has reportedly been sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging for adultery and murder. It is not known whether these sentences have been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Hossein Esna 'Ashari, who was sentenced to death along with Maryam Ayoubi, remains at imminent risk of execution, especially given today's stoning of Maryam Ayoubi. There were unconfirmed reports in January that his death sentence had been upheld and would be carried out "soon".

There is no news of Ali Hassanzadeh, Mostafa Nikbakht or Mir Jalil Sayed Nazari, who were reportedly sentenced to death in November 2000, or of the two men whose death sentences were postponed in January.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

According to newspaper reports of 21 May, a 35-year-old woman was stoned to death in the centre of Evin prison, where she had served eight years on charges of being "corrupt on earth", for appearing in a pornographic film. The woman had reportedly denied any involvement in the film, but her death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, apparently on the basis of witness testimony that she was the woman in the film. The report did not say when the execution was carried out.

Death by stoning is the punishment for adultery. Article 104 of the Penal Code states that "...the stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit by one or two of them, nor so small so that they cannot be called stones." Execution by stoning causes grievous pain before death and is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/ airmail letters in English, Farsi, French or your own language:
- expressing your outrage at today's stoning to death of Maryam Ayoubi, despite appeals for her sentence to be commuted;
- urging the authorities to commute the sentence of death by stoning passed on 'Robabeh' to a more humane punishment;
- asking whether the death sentences passed on the other people named above have been upheld, and, if so, urging that they be commuted immediately;
- pointing out that the death penalty constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment amounting to torture, all the more so when it is carried out by stoning, and as such violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party;
- reminding the Iranian authorities of their commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in particular Article 3, which says that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person".

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei
c/o The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Telegrams: Ayatollah Khamenei, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency

President
His Excellency Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Telegrams: President Khatami, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880
E-mails: khatami@president.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Telegrams: Head of Judiciary, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Faxes: + 98 21 879 6671 (number may be unreliable, please be patient)
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Minister of Foreign Affairs,
His Excellency Kamal Kharrazi,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Faxes: + 98 21 390 1999 (Human Rights Department)
E-mails: matbuat@mfa.gov.ir (please ask for the message to be forwarded
to the Human Rights Department)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Director, Organization for Defending Victims of Violence
PO Box 16765-911, Tehran, Iran
Fax: + 98 21 653091
Email: odvv@neda.net

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

IRANS AMBASSAD
BOX 6031
181 06 LIDINGÖ
FAX 08-765 31 19

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 8 August 2001.

Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat,
1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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