(3 November 2008) Hedayat Ghazali is a psychology student in her final year at Tehran University and head of the authorized publication Roojameh at Tehran University (published in Kurdish). In July 2007, in Sanandaj, while with Sabah Nasri, a writer for Roojameh, he was arrested and taken to the Central Intelligence Office of Sanandaj. In the first week of September 2007, he was taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison. He was then transferred to the Central Prison of Sanandaj in December 2007, only to be taken back to Evin Prison’s Section 209. Based on a letter sent by Ghazali and Nasri while in custody, they were transferred seven times.

According to the letter sent by Nasri and Ghazali from prison, the charges against them were based on their involvement in a gathering celebrating International Mother Language Day and their work for the Roojameh publication. In their letter, they detail being told during interrogations that their arrests could be reduced and their prosecution prevented. Despite being told this, the public prosecutor issued a request for a new punishment against both of them. The first meeting in the investigation of Nasri and Ghazali’s files was done without the presence of their lawyer in an open sight court in late May 2008. After four delays, the case finally went to court on 23 August 2008, in the 13th Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court with Judge Sadat presiding. The charges against Nasri and Ghazli and their subsequent punishments are based on Article 500 in Islamic Penal Code and the public prosecutor sought the most severe penalty. On 24 August 2008, a two-year prison sentence was handed down to both Nasri and Ghazali. This information was also communicated to their lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht. Judge Sadat returned the cases of Nasri and Ghazali saying the case is not under the jurisdiction of his branch. Though the case would be repeatedly sent to court, he would not show up. Despite this, the cases of Nasri and Ghazali took place in that same Branch.

(3 November 2008) Sabah Nasri is a Masters student in political science at Tehran University, a member of the writing club and writer for the authorized publication Roojameh (published in Kurdish). He was arrested with Hedayat Ghazali in July 2007 in Sanandaj and was taken to the Central Intelligence Office. In the first week of September 2007, he was taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison. He was then transferred to the Central Prison of Sanandaj in November 2007, only to be taken back to Section 209 of Evin Prison in February 2008. Based on a letter sent by Nasri and Ghazali from prison, they were transferred between prisons seven times.

According to the letter, the charges against them were based on their involvement in a gathering celebrating International Mother Language Day and their work for Roojameh. In their letter, they detail being told during interrogations that their arrests could be reduced and even their prosecution prevented. Despite being told this, the public prosecutor issued a request for a new punishment against both of them. The first meeting in the investigation of Nasri and Ghazali’s files was done without the presence of their lawyer in an open sight court in late May 2008. After four delays, the case finally went to court on 23 August 2008 in the 13th Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, with Judge Sadat presiding.

The charges against Nasri and Ghazali and their subsequent punishments are based on Article 500 in Islamic Penal Code, and the public prosecutor sought the maximum sentence allowed. On 24 August 2008, a two-year prison sentence was handed down to both Nasri and Ghazali. This information was also communicated to their lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht.

Judge Sadat returned the cases of Nasri and Ghazali saying the case is not under the jurisdiction of his branch. Though the case would be repeatedly sent to court, he would not show up. Despite this, the cases of Nasri and Ghazali took place in that same Branch.

His execution is the second time the death penalty has been applied to a child offender in Iran in 2008; on 26 February, Iran authorities executed Javad Shojaii for a crime he committed when he was 16.“These executions are tragic and they are barbaric. They violate Iran’s legal obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and are beneath the dignity and the morality of the Iranian people,” Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesperson for the Campaign said.

While a few other countries still execute children (such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, and Pakistan), Iran has accounted for more than two-thirds of such executions in the past three years.

“Human rights defenders are in shock in Iran. Only yesterday, they believed such executions may be coming to an end after two imminent executions were postponed in Tehran,” Ghaemi said.

The Campaign has compiled a list of at least 106 individuals on death row in Iran for crimes committed under the age of 18.

“We are calling upon the international community to denounce child executions in Iran and around the world, and to take concrete steps to convince the Iranian authorities that such uncivilized practices have negative consequences for Iran’s international and economic relations,” Ghaemi said.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called on the Iranian Judiciary to put an end to prosecution of workers for exercising their legitimate rights to freedoms of assembly and expression.

“It is unacceptable that the Iranian Judiciary would put workers on trial for celebrating May Day. To flog them is even more disturbing. It is a form of inhumane punishment that amount to torture under international law,” the group said.

On 16 February 2008, Sanandaj’s Revolutionary Court issued a flogging sentence and fines in amount of 20,00,000 Rials ($220) for 11 workers who participated in a May Day Celebration. On the same day, the authorities carried out the flogging sentence of 10 lashes for three of the workers, Sadeq Amjadi, Fars Gooyilian, and Habibollah Kalehkani.

The three workers belong to the Union of Unemployed and Dismissed Workers. On May 1, 2007, the Union held a public event that was disrupted by security forces. The authorities arrested two members of the Union’s central council, Seys Amani and Sadiq Karimi along with 11 other participants. Amani and Karimi are sentenced to two and half year imprisonment.

According to Mokrian New Agency, a local human rights news website, the other eight workers sentenced to fogging and financial penalties are: Abas Andaryani, Tayeb Chetani, Yadollah Moradi, Tayeb Malaii, Eqbal Latifi, Sadiq Sobhani, Mahyedin Rajabi, and Khalid Savari.

A lower court had sentenced the 11 workers to 91 days of imprisonment, ten lashes, and financial fines. The court charged the workers with “disturbing the public order” and “participation in an illegal gathering.” The appeals court rejected the imprisonment sentence but kept the flogging sentences and the financial penalties in place.

The Iranian government consistently prosecutes workers for their peaceful activities to form independent unions and to promote implementation of international labor standards. Mahmoud Salehi and Mansour Osanloo, two leading trade-unionist, are currently in prison, serving lengthy sentences.