Stans henrettelsen av Reza

Dear Mr Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,

Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei, aged 34, from Iran’s oppressed Kurdish and Yaresan ethnic and religious minorities, respectively, is at imminent risk of execution in Dizel Abad prison, Kermanshah province, in relation to the nationwide protests of September-December 2022. On 7 October 2023, Branch Two of Criminal Court One in Kermanshah province convicted Reza Rasaei and sentenced him to death in connection with the death of the commander of the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards in Sahneh, Kermanshah province, during a protest on 18 November 2022. Branch 17 of the Supreme Court upheld the verdict on 16 December 2023. On 16 January 2024, Branch One of the Supreme Court rejected his lawyer’s request for judicial review. Both Branch 17 and Branch One of the Supreme Court disregarded exculpatory evidence including key witness testimonies and his lawyer’s submissions on the flawed investigations and the omission of forensic and other evidence. The submissions also highlighted that a key witness recanted his initial statements implicating Reza Rasaei in the commander’s death, subsequently stating that they were made under torture and other ill-treatment. Reza Rasaei has repeatedly denied any involvement and stated, including during trial, that his forced “confessions” were extracted through torture and other ill-treatment. Authorities have flagrantly violated Reza Rasaei’s fair trial rights, including to access a lawyer from the time of arrest, to meaningfully challenge the legality of his detention, to not self-incriminate, and to be tried by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal and to a meaningful review by a higher tribunal. Courts have also unlawfully relied on forced “confessions” extracted from Reza Rasaei and others under torture and other ill-treatment to convict him.

Reza Rasaei was arrested in November 2022. According to an informed source, he was subjected to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law, for the first four months of his detention. During this time, agents from the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards interrogated him and subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment, including electric shocks, suffocation by placing a plastic bag over his head, prolonged suspension, severe beatings and sexual violence to compel his forced “confessions”. Since his arrest, authorities have been denying him access to adequate healthcare, including for his torture-related injuries, including broken fingers and toes, which may be permanently damaged as a result. No investigations are known to have been carried out into his torture allegations.

I urge you to immediately halt any plans to carry out Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei’s execution and quash his conviction and death sentence and release him unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence and is given a fair retrial without recourse to the death penalty excluding torture-tainted “confessions”. Pending his release, grant him regular access to his family, chosen lawyer, and adequate medical care; protect him from further torture and other ill-treatment; and investigate his torture allegations, bringing anyone found responsible to justice in fair trials. Finally, I urge you to grant independent observers access to capital trials connected to protests and immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

Yours sincerely,