[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----IRAN------URGENT ACTION

Tue Feb 17 14:32:43 CST 2015

IRAN:

JUVENILE OFFENDER BEATEN, DAYS FROM EXECUTION

Iranian juvenile offender Saman Naseem was beaten to force him to make more TV 
“confessions” on 15
February. He is scheduled to be executed on 19 February for crimes he is 
accused of having committed
when he was 17 years old.

View the full Urgent Action, including case information, addresses and sample 
messages, here.

Iranian juvenile offender Saman Naseem was beaten to force him to make more TV 
“confessions” on 15
February. He is scheduled to be executed on 19 February for crimes he is 
accused of having committed
when he was 17 years old.

Saman Naseem called his family on 15 February and told them that earlier that 
day men in plain
clothes had taken him to the security department of the Oroumieh Prison. He 
said the men, who he
believed belonged to the Ministry of Intelligence and were carrying cameras and 
recording equipment,
beat him for several hours to force him into making video-taped “confessions”, 
but he refused to do
so.

Saman Naseem was sentenced to death in April 2013 by a criminal court in 
Mahabad, West Azerbaijan
Province, for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and “corruption on earth” (ifsad 
fil-arz) because of
his membership of the Kurdish armed opposition group Party For Free Life of 
Kurdistan (PJAK), and
for taking part in armed activities against the Revolutionary Guards. His death 
sentence was upheld
by the Supreme Court in December 2013.

Saman Naseem was allowed no access to his lawyer during early investigations 
and he said he was
tortured, which included the removal of his finger and toe nails and being hung 
upside down for
several hours.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Saman Naseem was arrested on 17 July 2011 after a gun battle between 
Revolutionary Guards and PJAK,
in the city of Sardasht, West Azerbaijan Province. Court documents say that 
during the fight one
member of the Revolutionary Guards was killed and three others were wounded. In 
September 2011,
Saman Naseem was forced to make a “confession” which was filmed and aired on 
state television.
According to court documents, during early investigations, he admitted firing 
towards Revolutionary
Guards forces in July 2011. He retracted his statement during the first court 
session, saying that
he had only fired into the air. He told the court that during interrogation he 
had been hung upside
down from the ceiling while blindfolded and that the interrogators had put his 
fingerprints on his
“confessions”, whose contents he did not know. He has also alleged that the 
interrogators pulled out
his toenails and fingernails and subjected him to beatings which left him with 
bruises on his back,
legs and abdomen. The court dismissed his statements and allowed the use of his 
“confession”.

View the full Urgent Action here.

Name: Saman Naseem (m)
Issues: Imminent execution, Torture/ill-treatment, Unfair trial Further 
information on UA: 234/14 (18 September 2014) and updates (6 February 2015)
Issue Date: 16 February 2015
Country: Iran

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan at aiusa.org with "UA 234/14" in the subject 
line, and include in the
body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent.

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office 
if sending appeals
after the below date. This is the second update of UA 234/14. Further 
information:
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/004/2015/en. If you receive a response 
from a government
official, please forward it to us at uan at aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action 
Office address below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in Persian, English, Arabic, French, Spanish or your 
own language:
  *  Urging the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of Saman Naseem 
immediately and ensure that
     his case is subjected to a judicial review;
  *  Reminding them that Iran has ratified both the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political
     Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which strictly 
prohibit the use of the
     death penalty for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age;
  *  Urging them to ensure that he is not subjected to torture or other 
ill-treatment; investigate
     the allegations that he was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment; 
and ensure that
     “confessions” obtained from him under torture are not used as evidence in 
court.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 30 MARCH 2015 TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: (via website) http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter
Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English), @Khamenei_ar (Arabic), @Khamenei_es (Spanish).
Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
c/o Public Relations Office
Number 4, 2 Azizi Street intersection Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:
President of the Islamic republic of Iran
Hassan Rouhani
The Presidency
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Twitter:@HassanRouhani (English), @Rouhani_ir (Persian)

Also send copies to:
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please 
send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington DC 20007
Phone: 202 965 4990  I  Fax: 202 965 1073  I  Email: info at daftar.org

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