First Name and Last Name:
Seyed Mohammad Bagher Mousavi
Background:
No detail is available about the year and location of his birth as well as his educational background.
Titles and Positions Held:
Judge of branch two of Ahwaz revolutionary court
Witness Accounts of Alleged Violations and Crimes:
Judge Seyed Mohammad Bagher Mousavi, head of branch 2 of the Islamic revolutionary court of Ahwaz, should be held accountable for the crimes of torturing political prisoners, failing to observe the standards set for fair trials and issuing the recent death sentences for five members of scientific – cultural institute of Al-Hiwar, Mahammad Ali Amouri, Hashem Shabani, Hadi Rashedi, Jaber Alboshoke and Mokhtar Alboshoke as well as heavy sentences for seven more members.
Al-Hiwar means dialogue. The institute was inspired by the policies of President Khatami’s government to promote a “Dialogue among Civilizations” and was registered by the National Youth Organisation. The institute organises events for the Arab youth of Ramshir (Khalafieh), including a number of conferences, poetry recital gatherings, and educational and art classes, all in the Arabic language. The activities of this institute were pronounced as illegal after an upsurge in the presence of security forces in the Khuzestan province following the widespread demonstrations in April 2005 in protest against discrimination imposed on Arab ethnic groups. In addition, the founders, members and others involved with the institute were also threatened. Around twenty active members of the institute were arrested in February 2011 and kept in secret detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahwaz. For a number of months, the authorities applied severe mental and physical tortures on the detainees with the sole purpose of forcing them to falsely confess to armed activities.
Finally, in June 2012, Seyed Mohammad Bagher Mousavi, the judge at branch two of Ahwaz revolutionary court issued a bill of indictment for 13 detainees of Al-Hiwar, five of whom were sentenced to death. He failed to carry out an investigation around the claims of the defendants that the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in secret detention centres had tortured them. The verdict was issued in spite of the fact that the defendants had no access to their counsel before the hearing. As a matter of fact, not only the defendants of this file were deprived of a fair trial and the right to appeal, but also the security agents in charge of torturing them to extract forced confessions enjoyed absolute impunity.[1]
Seyed Mohammad Bagher Mousavi is responsible for grave violation of rights of Arab Ahwazi activists especially the members of Al-Hiwar.
Sources:
[1]http://justiceforiran.org/call-for-action/alhewar/?lang=en
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/11/iran-prevent-execution-arab-activists
