The Supreme Court Upheld the Death Sentence of Shahram Ahmadi

HRANA News Agency – The request for a retrial by Shahram Ahmadi, Sunni prisoner of Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj who had been sentenced to death was rejected. Few days ago, the executive judge showed up in Sunni prisoners’ ward and told those whose death sentences had been upheld to prepare themselves for execution.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), on June 26, lawyer of Shahram Ahmadi, Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, was informed that the Supreme Court had rejected his retrial.
The retrial of the prisoner who has been in various prisons since 2009, has been rejected while his attorney challenged the verdict based on the fact that Shahram Ahmadi has not committed violent acts and has not accepted the membership in any armed opposition group.
His lawyer had told in the request for retrial that his client should not be executed due to not using violence under Article 278 and 288 of the Penal Code.
His lawyer believes even assuming his client’s membership in an opposition group would be punishable with a maximum sentence of five years in prison under Article 288 and not with death penalty.
The lawyer said that his client was wounded while being arrested and was both physically and psychologically tortured to confess.
Shahram Ahmadi’s sentence was sent to the Supreme Court in August 2014, the Supreme Court rejected the death sentence and sent the case to the primary court. But judge Moghiseh issued the death sentence again and this time the Supreme Court confirmed the verdict.
It is worth mentioning that Shahram Ahmadi was shot several times by the security forces without any warning when he was returning back from mosque in Sanandaj, and security agents arrested him after being punched and kicked and they broke his nose, on April 26, 2009. When Shahram Ahmadi woke up in the hospital, he realized that the doctors had already removed one of his kidneys and a part of his bowel. This prisoner was interrogated under torture in the solitary confinement in the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj and Zanjan for several months.
In the same year, his younger brother, Bahram Ahmadi was also arrested in Sanandaj. At the time of arrest, his brother was younger than 18 years old.
The family of these two prisoners provided 700 million IRR by selling their assets and paid that to the lawyer, who claimed to be able to stop the death penalty, trying to rescue them.
His younger brother, Bahram Ahmadi, was executed along with 5 other Sunni prisoners in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj on December 28, 2011.
Finally, after several years of uncertainty, this prisoner was sentenced to death in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh in a 5-minute-long court and without the permission of defending himself, on charge of waging war against God, on October 2, 2012.
His death sentence was communicated to his public lawyer in April 2013, and on July 2nd the case was referred to the Supreme Court.
On the same day, Shahram Ahmadi’s family were extremely injured in a car accident on the way back from visiting him and his mother and sister had head injuries. His mother had no physical and mental good feeling after she heard his little son was executed, from the waiting room’s soldier and after she got her other son’s death sentence, and after this incident, she lost her memory and half of her body was paralyzed. His sister also lost her power of speech.
This prisoner’s case was returned to Branch 27 of the Revolutionary Court, after the Supreme Court rejected the sentence on July 29, 2013.
Mr. Ahmadi was transferred from Rajai Shahr to solitary confinement in ward 240 of Evin Prison, on October 9, 2013. After nearly two weeks of not having any information, in a phone call with his family, he announced that he was held in the solitary confinement and received just one daily meal. He added, in his contact with his family: “Every morning they take me for the execution …”, by saying these words, his phone call was interrupted by Evin prison agents.
This Sunni prisoner was transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison, following a hunger strike on November 21st.
Shahram Ahmadi got kidney infection and that infection and lack of medical attentions put him in serious health problems, on January 3, 2014.
HRANA News Agency had reported on January 28, 2014 that Mr. Davari, chief interrogator of the Ministry of Intelligence along with 3 others went to ward 350 and threatened Shahram Ahmadi and other Sunni prisoners who had been sentenced to death in other rooms, to be executed.
This prisoner had kidney bleeding, on March 15, 2014, but no action was taken as a treatment. In this bleeding and deteriorating of his physical condition, the next day he was transferred to the medical centers outside the prison.
Shahram Ahmadi was transferred once again to Rajai Shahr prison on March 17, 2014.
A number of political prisoners in ward 12 of Rajai Shahr prison, in Karaj, including Shahrokh Zamani, Saeid Masouri, Saleh Kohandel, Afshin Heyratian, Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi, Misagh Yzdannezhad and Hamidreza Borhani, in a letter urged for the abolition of the death penalty for this Sunni prisoner, on April 21, 2014.
Shahram Ahmadi was called for a court hearing on May 5, 2014, but he was not send to the court, as he refused to wear a prison uniform.
From September to December 2014, this prisoner was deprived of prison visits and telephone contacts.
The Supreme Court rejected the death penalty of this prisoner on August 6, 2015, and returned the case to Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court. But, judge Moghiseh, once again, issued his death sentence, on October 2nd.
Finally on October 26, 2015 the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence for Shahram Ahmadi and sent the decision to the executive branch of Evin prison.
Shahram Ahmadi is currently suffering from intestinal disease and kidney infection and is held in Hall 12 of Rajai Shahr prison.
Remarkably, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon by criticizing executions in Iran in a report in the end of 2015, mentioned the case of Shahram Ahmadi as one of the legally ambiguous ones in Iran.
It should be noted that this Sunni prisoner was sentenced to death under Article 183 of “Muharebeh”, whereas this Article has now been removed and his sentence should be canceled.
Security and judicial institutions have accused Shahram Ahmadi with Salafism and communicating with extremist armed groups and participation in armed operations. However, Mr. Ahmadi has announced by writing several letters from the prison that these accusations are false, and he believes that his only crime is promoting his religion.

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