Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 para 442
Full recommendation
Only the full respect for stringent due process guarantees distinguishes capital punishment as
still allowed under international law from a summary execution, which violates the most
fundamental human right. We therefore urge your Excellency’s Government to take all
necessary measures to guarantee that the rights under international law of Messrs Ali Saedi,
Walid Naisi, Majid Fardipour (Majid Mahawi), Doayr Mahawi, Maher Mahawi, Ahmad
Saedi, and Yousuf Leftehpour are respected. Considering the irreversible nature of capital
punishment, this can only mean suspension of the death sentence against the seven men until
the question of whether fair trial guarantees were respected has been clarified and the
allegations of torture have been thoroughly investigated and all doubts in this respect
dispelled.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators 1
A. The death sentences against the seven men should be suspended until the
question of whether fair trial guarantees were respected has been clarified.
According to information received by UN Special Procedures, seven men were arrested in
2007 and held in incommunicado by intelligence services for three to fifteen months. The
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and or Arbitrary executions raised concerns
that during this time period, the seven men were subject to torture in order to extract
confessions from them.2 They were later transferred to Karoun Prison in Ahvaz city. In 2009,
the seven men were tried, convicted and sentenced to death for the offences of “acting against
national security” and the 2007 killing of a Shi’a cleric, Sheikh Hesam al-Sameyri.
Article 35 of the Constitution guarantees the right to legal defence, which includes the right
to choose a lawyer. 3 Article 190 of the revised Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) protects
the right of a suspect to “be accompanied by a lawyer during the preliminary investigations”.
Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), revised in 2015, provides the accused
the opportunity to “demand the presence of a lawyer from the start of detention.”4 5 However,
1
CCPR.7.1.S.1; CCPR.9.2.S.1; CCPR.10.1.S.1; CCPR.14.1.S.1; CCPR.14.3.S.1;
CCPR.7.1.P.1; CCPR.9.2.P.2
CCPR.14.3.O.3; CCPR.7.1.O.1
2 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, June 2010,
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/14/24/Add.1
3 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English translation, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wpcontent/uploads/constitution-english-1368.pdf
4 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) as referenced in the joint submission to the Human
Rights Committee from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Impact Iran,
Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf
5 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) original version http://dotic.ir/print/5584
1