First Name and Last Name:
Reza Farajullahi
Background:
PhD in criminal law and criminology
Titles and Positions Held:
Head of branch 32 of Supreme Court
Witness Accounts of Alleged Violations and Crimes:
Judge Farajullahi, head of branch 32 of Supreme Court, has a notorious reputation for confirming death sentences of political prisoners. He has confirmed the death sentences of several Iranians including Saeed Malekpour and Vahid Asghari, the Internet activists who are currently detained at Evin[1].
He also confirmed the death sentences of five members of Al-Hiwar.Muhammadali Omouri (Fisheries engineer and school teacher), Hadi Rashedi (holds a MS degree in applied chemistry and chemistry high-school teacher), Hashem Shabani (Arab literature teacher and MA degree student in Political Sciences at Ahwaz University), Seyyed Jaber Alboshoka (holds an associate degree in computer sciences and is a private in the military), Seyyed Mokhtar Alboshoka (works at a stone mining company), from among the founders and active members of Al-Hiwar, are accused of combatting against God, proceeding with armed activities and threatening national security. They are sentenced to death by hanging, while they explicitly announced, in several hearings, that they remained under months of severe torture, were obliged to falsely confess to armed activities and attempting to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran.[2]
The residents arrested from Ahvaz’s Shadegan neighborhood include Ghazi Abbasi, now 31, Abdolreza Amir Khanafareh, now 26, Abdolamir Majdami, now 33, and Jassem Moghaddam, now 28. In April 2012, Branch One of Ahwaz Revolutionary Court under Judge Ali Farhadvand sentenced the four men to death on charges of “moharebeh [enmity with God] and corruption on earth through armed confrontation.” Branch 32 of the Supreme Court under Judge Reza Farajollahi upheld the ruling on February 13, 2013. The prisoners were only informed of the Supreme Court’s decision on July 10, five months later.[3]
In a letter has been referred to theses four prisoners on death row, which was released from inside prison, they speak of their torture , the way they were forced to confess and violation of due process standards, “After three years in a state of limbo inside the Intelligence Ministry detention centres, our trial court was convened in 2012. In all, it didn’t last more than 2.5 hours and without being able to defend ourselves, we were sentenced to death on charges of armed actions, enmity with God, and corruption on earth,” the prisoners say in a part of their letter…..I, Ghazi Abbasi, a resident of Fallahieh [Shadegan], was arrested on August 23, 2009. During my 11 months inside the Intelligence Office Detention Centre, I was charged with numerous charges. I was subjected to various physical and psychological tortures during this time, and scars of this torture remain on my body to this day,”
Reza Farajollahi is responsible for failing to observe the standards set for fair trials and issuing the death sentences for civil and cyber activists.
Sources:
[1]http://justiceforiran.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Gerdab-a-dictated-scenario1.pdf
[2]http://justiceforiran.org/call-for-action/alhewar/?lang=en
[3]http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2013/07/ahvazi_execution/
01 Mar 2013
