AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE13/098/2008 25 July 2008
Further Information on 271/07 (MDE/124/2007, 23 October 2007) Death Penalty/Fear of Imminent Execution
IRAN Soghra Najafpour (f), aged 31
Soghra Najafpour has been sentenced to death, for the second time, for a murder which took place when she was only 13 years old. She is in prison in the northern city of Rasht, where she has spent most of the last 19 years.
Soghra Najafpour was released on bail of 600 million Iranian rials (almost US$66,000) on 1 October 2007. She returned to prison later that month to comply with a summons which followed a new demand by the family of the murder victim for her execution to be carried out after they heard of her release.
On 23 October 2007, Soghra Najafpour's lawyer petitioned the Office of the Head of the Judiciary to reinvestigate her case on account of serious flaws, following which her sentence of qesas (retribution) was overturned by the Supreme Court. The case was sent back for retrial in another branch of the General Court in Rasht. At the second trial, she was again found guilty and sentenced to qesas and remains at risk of execution.
At the age of nine, Soghra Najafpour was sent by her family to work as a servant in a doctor's home in the city of Rasht. After Soghra Najafpour had been working for the family for four years, the eight-year-old son of the family went missing. She was accused of the boy's murder when his body was found in a well a few days later. Soghra Najafpour initially denied the murder, but after repeated interrogation, confessed to committing it. Her confession was taken as proof of her guilt and she was sentenced to qesas.
In Soghra Najafpour's appeal against her sentence she wrote, “I didn't kill the eight-year-old boy, but I know who killed him and because of his request, I had to be silent. He had promised to get the victim’s mother to forgive me and to save me.” She added, “When I was nine, I was raped, and with the threats I received, I was forced to be silent, and on the day of the accident, I had a storeroom to clean and the same man who abused me came looking for me, and the boy, who was playing, came into the storeroom all of a sudden and saw me being abused. That man threw the boy against the wall and, in one instant, his head hit the wall and he lost consciousness. I couldn't move the boy’s corpse, but that man wanted me to throw the body in the well.”
Her appeal was rejected and following a medical examination, Soghra Najafpour also received a sentence of flogging for fornication, despite her claim to have been raped. The man she had claimed was her abuser was acquitted because he did not confess to raping her and there was no other evidence to prove he was the perpetrator.
On two occasions, when Soghra Najafpour was 17 and 21, she was taken to be executed but the family of the victim changed their minds at the last minute. Soghra Najafpour will continue to seek to prove her innocence.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
International law strictly prohibits the use of the death penalty against people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18. As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iran has undertaken not to execute child offenders. However, since 1990, Iran has executed at least 33 child offenders, including at least two in 2008. Almost 140 juvenile offenders are believed to be on death row in Iran, the vast majority convicted of murder.
For more information see Iran: The Last Executioner of children (Index MDE 13/059/2007) and Iran: Spare four youths from execution, immediately enforce international prohibition on death penalty for juvenile offenders (//www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-spare-four-youths-execution-immediately-enforce-international-prohi).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
- urging the authorities to overturn the death sentence imposed on Soghra Najafpour, should it be upheld on appeal;Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency
Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran
His Excellency Mohammad Javad Larijani
C/o Office of the Deputy for International Affairs
Ministry of Justice,
Ministry of Justice Building, Panzdah-Khordad (Ark) Square,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 05 September.
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So sad. The latest domestic
by sosad (not verified) on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:14 PM PDTSo sad.
The latest domestic terrorism of IRI:
The kidnap and torture of Kamangar's 11 year old nephew, in the website of Human Rights Activists in Iran.
Fazad Kamangar is the Iranian Kurdish teacher who is due to be executed.
//www.hrairan.com/Archive_87/904.html
Islamic Republic has a horrific track record of killing teenagers during the eighties by madmen like Khalkhali and Lajevardi, even pregnant women were executed by this regime in the eighties. According to the Human Rights Activists in Iran website, Kamangar's 11 year old nephew who had popped out for some shopping errands, was forced into a white car belonging to the IRGC, taken to an unknown place, and beaten while the assailants hurled insults and threats at his family and at Kamangar in particular for several hours. At the end, this 11 year old boy was released 5 Kilometers outside the town at 21:00 hours, bleeding from his eyes and ears. It took him more than one hour to walk back and find his home. Naturally the kid is in shock and extremely frightened.
//www.hrairan.com/Archive_87/904.html