Politiet drepte 9-åring, men la skylden på Mojahed. Nå kan han bli henrettet
Mojahed Kourkouri ble torturert og tvunget til å tilstå at han hadde drept et 9 år gammel barn under en av protestene i Iran. Men ifølge offerets familie, var det iransk politi som skjøt barnet.
Vitner Amnesty har snakket med bekrefter både at det var iranske sikkerhetsstyrker som drepte barnet, og at Mojahed ikke var til stede denne dagen.
Kian (9) ble drept av politiet
Den lille gutten, som het Kian Pirfalak, satt i bilen med familien sin da han ble skutt og drept. Dette var i Izeh, den 16. november 2022, en dag hvor store protester preget byen.
Ifølge foreldrene til Kian var de på vei hjem da bilen ble beordret til å stoppe i et kryss hvor et stort antall opprørspoliti og sivilkledde tjenestemenn var stasjonert. Foreldrene har fortalt at til tross for at de fulgte ordrene om å stoppe og snu, åpnet sikkerhetsstyrkene ild mot bilen.
Samme kveld som Kian ble drept, ble det erklært av statlige medier at "terrorister" var ansvarlige for hendelsen. Mojahed Kourkouri ble også navngitt.
Familien til barnet har gjentatte ganger uttalt offentlig at Mojahed ikke var involvert i drapet. Foreldrene har lagt ansvaret på Irans sikkerhetsstyrker. Likevel risikerer Mojahed å bli henrettet for drapet.
Dette er dessverre ikke unikt. Amnesty har dokumentert flere tilfeller der iranske myndigheter systematisk har dekket over sikkerhetsstyrkenes drap på barn.
Hardt skadet
Mojahed ble arrestert 20. desember 2022 nær Ghalehtol i provinsen Khuzestan, under det statlige medier rapporterte som et "væpnet sammenstøt". Mojahed ble hardt skadet under arrestasjonen. Kneet hans ble såret, og han fikk granatsplinter i armen.
Familien har fortalt at de så vidt fikk ha kontakt med Mojahed i fengselet. Sent i april fortalte han et familiemedlem over en kort telefonsamtale at myndighetene ville drepe ham. Han fortalte også at han hadde store smerter etter skadene han fikk under arrestasjonen, og at han trengte helsehjelp.
Enorm henrettelsesbølge
Den alarmerende økningen i antall henrettelser i Iran som vi så i 2023 fortsetter også i år. Minst 400 mennesker har blitt henrettet siden begynnelsen av året. Mens verdens oppmerksomhet er på spenningene mellom Israel og Iran, har iranske trappet opp bruken av dødsstraff ytterligere, med over 80 henrettelser i august alene.
Iranske myndigheter bruker dødsstraff som et verktøy for politisk undertrykkelse, og for å skremme mennesker i Iran som står opp for endring til taushet.
Ved å signere denne aksjonen krever du at iranske myndigheter:
- umiddelbart opphever dødsdommen mot Mojahed Kourkouri
- løslater ham med mindre han får en ny, rettferdig rettssak.
- i påvente av løslatelse sikrer Mojahed Kourkouri tilgang til besøk fra familien og advokat etter eget ønske.
- undersøker Mojaheds anklager om tortur og stiller de ansvarlige for retten i en rettferdig rettssak uten bruk av dødsstraff.
Signaturene sendes til lederen for det iranske rettsvesenet, Mohseni Ejei.
Last ned underskriftsliste:
Dear Mr Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,
I am deeply concerned that Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri is at imminent risk of execution; on 24 December 2023, Mojahed Kourkouri’s sister stated publicly that Branch 39 of the Supreme Court had upheld her brother’s conviction and death sentence. According to informed sources, his sentence was subsequently sent to the Office for Implementation of Sentences, raising fears that his execution can be carried out at any time.
In early April 2023, Iran’s judiciary announced that a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz had sentenced Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri to death for “enmity against God” (moharebeh), “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz) and “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi). His trial was grossly unfair: the authorities denied him access to his independently chosen lawyer, and his forced “confessions” were aired by Iranian state media after his arrest in late December 2022, including in one video where he was filmed in bed with his arm visibly bloody and bandaged.
The authorities accused him of involvement in the killing of a child during protests in Izeh, Khuzestan province, on 16 November 2022. However, according to Amnesty International’s investigations, plainclothes security officials used unlawful lethal force during protests in Izeh and fatally fired live ammunition at the child. Authorities immediately blamed “terrorists”, but the boy’s family repeatedly refuted these claims publicly and attributed responsibility to the authorities.
From his arrest on 20 December 2022 to early April 2023, authorities subjected Mojahed Kourkouri to enforced disappearance, denying his family and independently chosen lawyer information about his whereabouts. Further, according to an informed source, since his arrest, Mojahed Kourkouri has been held in prolonged solitary confinement in Sheiban prison, Khuzestan province, and repeatedly subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including severe beatings around early November 2023 by prison officials for which he was admitted to hospital outside of prison for several days before being transferred back to prison against medical advice.
Since his arrest, Mojahed Kourkouri said he has regularly received threats by authorities that they will execute him “either today or next week”. A request for judicial review of his case before the Supreme Court, filed on 2 January 2024, remains pending.
I urge you to immediately halt any plans to carry out Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri’s execution and quash his conviction and death sentence. If he is charged with a recognizable criminal offence, proceedings must meet international fair trial standards without recourse to the death penalty and exclude coerced “confessions”.
I urge you to immediately grant Mojahed (Abbas) Kourkouri access to his family, independently chosen lawyer, and adequate medical care. I urge you to protect him from further torture and other ill-treatment and investigate 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,