| ←320 | Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1986-2001 Three Bahá’ís in Iran Sentenced to Death |
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| 11 FEBRUARY 2000 |
To selected National Spiritual Assemblies
321.1 The Universal House of Justice has just received from Iran the distressing news that death sentences have been reaffirmed for two members of the Bahá’í community there and a further death sentence has been passed on a third believer.
321.2 You will recall that our letter dated 14 November 1997 informed you that three friends—Mr. Sirus Zabihi-Moghaddam, Mr. Hedayat Kashefi-Najafabadi and Mr. Ataollah Hamid Nasirizadeh—were arrested in Mashhad in late 1997. Early in 1998, branch #8 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad sentenced the first two to death and Mr. Nasirizadeh to ten years' imprisonment. It was the same court that sentenced to death Mr. Ruhollah Rohani, who was executed on 21 July of that year. The three other sentences were subsequently set aside by the Supreme Court on the grounds that the prisoners had not been permitted to have lawyers for their defense, as entided under the law, and a retrial was accordingly ordered. That retrial took place in branch #3 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, and in October 1998 the original verdicts were reaffirmed. An appeal was subsequently made. (See our email of 1 December 1998.)
321.3 On 28 May 1999, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Representative, Professor Maurice Copithorne, was assured by Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva that "the Supreme Court decided to reject the verdict of capital punishment for the defendants and sent their cases to another competent court for a retrial." . . . We have now been informed that the verdicts, which were conveyed orally to the prisoners on 3 February, confirm the previous sentences: death for Mr. Zabihi-Moghaddam and Mr. Kashefi-Najafabadi and ten years' imprisonment in Kirman for Mr. Nasirizadeh.
321.4 Further, the same court has now imposed a death sentence on Mr. Manuchehr Khulusi, who had been arrested in Birjand some eight months ago and subsequently transferred to the prison in Mashhad. It is not known what charges were brought against Mr. Khulusi, but it is clear that he was arrested because of his Bahá’í activities.
321.5 The court that rendered these judgments is composed of a single judge, a Mr. Ni’mati. The prisoners have been given only 20 days to lodge a protest against their sentences, in which circumstance their cases may then be referred to a second court for review. As you will note, part of this very brief period has already elapsed and, at this point, the outcome of their protest is not certain.
321.6 Relatives of the prisoners have appealed for international action to prevent the carrying out of the verdicts and the imminent execution of three innocent individuals. . . .
- DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT
