News regarding Mr Farzad Kamangar by Amirkabir university students and other sources

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

On Wednesday 26 Nov we received rumours from internet web-blogs and other sources that Mr Farzad Kamangar & Mr Behnood Shojaei were to be executed imminently. Both rumours turned out to be untrue.

Shojaei's lawyer said that there is a group ( in Iran) which promotes the execution of juveniles. (He believes that they are responsible for spreading these rumours .)

Early Wednesday (26 Nov 2008) morning there were three execution news on websites. One was a certainty and the other two were probabilities.

Firstly, we were notified that "Mrs Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajouh" (who had killed her husband after catching him in the act of raping her 14 year old daughter) was actually executed on Wednesday morning of 26 Nov 2008. Her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khormashahi, confirmed the death of his client in an interview with reporters.

Fatemeh was executed, even though a number of Human Rights and Women's Rights activists had been trying to prevent this execution for months. Unfortunately, all their actions seem to have been in vain.

Secondly, we received the news about the execution of Mr Kamangar, a teacher in the Kamiaran region of Iran. Human Rights activists reported that while being beaten up, he was taken from his prison cell to an unknown location.

It was also reported that the location to which he was moved is like a "waiting room" before the execution. Mr Khalil Bahramian, Kamangar's lawyer, later negated this news, adding: "It is now 20 minutes since I saw him in his cell. He is doing fine. I saw him in the Evin prison, and his execution story is false." Mr Bahramian, who is dealing with Mr. Kamangar's case, added that the file is currently in the highest judiciary chamber, under investigations. He also added that he is hopeful that with the direct decree of Ayatollah Shahroudi (the Head of Iranian judiciary) his execution may be annulled.

He further added : "One must look at this case as a stepping stone, and with all the respect that I have for Ayatollah Shahroudi, I expect he will decree this annulment and will finally allow Mr Kamangar to leave the prison shortly after, in order for him to return to his previous life."

It should be noted that Farzad Kamangar, the Kurdish Iranian teacher, had come to Tehran from Kamiaran in Kurdistan region of Iran in order to find out what had happened to his brother who was incarcerated due to his political activities. He stayed in a house of two people (Mr Farhad Vakili & Mr Ali Haidarian) in Tehran while trying to investigate his brother's case. This is where all three men were arrested by the secret police of Iran, who had found weapons in the basement of their house. Mr Kamangar always denied any knowledge of those weapons and any involvement in any terrorist organisations. But the judiciary sentenced all three to death, stating that they were all members of the Kurdestan Workers Party (the PKK).

Thirdly, we heard rumours that Mr Behnood Shojaei had been executed. This rumour was also found to be false after contacting his lawyer Mr Mohammad Mostafaie. Mr Mostafaie stated that there is a group in Iran who promotes the execution of juveniles; in order to make this happen, they spread these type of rumours to present executions as an acceptable way of life in Iran.

When Mr Behnood Shojaei was 17, he was involved in a group fight where he killed another juvenile. He was sentenced to death in May but only one day before his execution, it was delayed by the personal decree of Ayatollah Shahroudi (Head of Iranian judiciary).

After this, an Iranian campaign to save Mr Behnood's life was started by three known Iranian actors: Mr Ezatolah Entezami, Mr Kumars Poorahmad and Mr Parviz Parastoui. This action group collected, through petition, enough money to pay damages to the family of the deceased juvenile and to got their approval to repeal this case. Alas Mr Behnood Shojaei still remains in jail.

Farzad Kamangar is alive, but 10 others were executed on Wednesday, the morning of 26 Nov 2006. He himself was not executed, although 9 men and 1 woman were executed by hanging instead. These ten people had been sentenced for their crimes of killing, theft, and taking people hostage.

After China, Iran holds the second place in the world for the number of people it executes per year. During the presidency of Mr Ahmadinejad, the execution rates in Iran have increased by 300%.

Even though the government officials explain that this increase of executions is to keep law and order in Iran, we have not seen any signs of reduction of crimes during this period.

The Human Rights campaign in Iran is against executions due to its irreversibility and its cruelty. It also believes that punishment by way of execution can only increase ruthlessness amongst the population and adds to the insecurity in the country.

translation by
Reza Fardoom,
President of SID