{"id":1949,"date":"2021-01-12T04:18:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T04:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2021-01-12T04:18:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T04:18:43","slug":"un-human-rights-chief-appalled-at-iran-execution-questions-trial-process-and-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1949","title":{"rendered":"UN human rights chief \u2018appalled\u2019 at Iran execution, questions trial process and verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Iran\u2019s decision to hang media activist Ruhollah&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;on Saturday was an appalling violation of human rights that followed a deeply flawed trial process, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26602&amp;LangID=E\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>&nbsp;on Monday.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am appalled at the execution in Iran on 12 December of Ruhollah&nbsp;Zam, activist and founder of the&nbsp;AmadNews&nbsp;Telegram channel\u201d, Ms Bachelet said in a statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Emblematic of a pattern\u2019&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHis death sentence and execution by hanging are emblematic of a pattern of forced confessions extracted under torture and broadcast on state media being used as a basis to convict people. There were, in addition, serious concerns that the apprehension of\u00a0Zam\u00a0outside the territory of Iran could amount to an abduction and that his subsequent transfer to Iran for trial may not have respected due process guarantees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Iran<\/a>: UN Human Rights Chief <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mbachelet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@mbachelet<\/a> is appalled at the execution of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RuhollahZam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RuhollahZam<\/a>. She calls on the authorities to halt their alarming &amp; increasing use of the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DeathPenalty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DeathPenalty<\/a> and vague national security charges to suppress independent voices &amp; dissent \ud83d\udc49 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hvNjgeyOaH\">https:\/\/t.co\/hvNjgeyOaH<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RlN2cGffom\">pic.twitter.com\/RlN2cGffom<\/a><\/p>&mdash; UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNHumanRights\/status\/1338483025915613184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 14, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms. Bachelet called on Iran\u2019s government to immediately free all those detained for exercising their human rights, and to immediately halt the use of the death penalty and \u201cvague national security charges\u201d to suppress independent voices and dissent.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said she condemned the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, saying that it was irreconcilable with human dignity, often arbitrarily used, and wrongful executions could be never be rectified.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUnder international human rights law, if applied at all, the death penalty must be limited only to the most serious crimes, involving intentional killing, and after proceedings that fully respect the guarantees of fair trial, appeal and the right to seek clemency \u2013 cumulative conditions clearly not met in Ruhollah&nbsp;Zam\u2019s&nbsp;case\u201d, Ms. Bachelet said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Unconscionable\u2019&nbsp;execution&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In a separate&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26603&amp;LangID=E\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>, two UN Special Rapporteurs \u2013 independent&nbsp;rights&nbsp;experts mandated by the UN&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/HRBodies\/HRC\/Pages\/Home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Human Rights Council<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 called Mr.&nbsp;Zam\u2019s&nbsp;conviction and subsequent hanging,&nbsp;\u201cunconscionable\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement from&nbsp;Javaid&nbsp;Rehman, Special Rapporteur&nbsp;on the situation of&nbsp;human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Agnes&nbsp;Callamard,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/Issues\/Executions\/Pages\/SRExecutionsIndex.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions<\/a>, said Mr.&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;had&nbsp;been&nbsp;convicted for&nbsp;allegedly&nbsp;\u201cspreading corruption on earth\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They said Mr.&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;was accused of helping to inspire nationwide anti-government protests in 2017 and revealing damaging accusations about&nbsp;State officials.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is clear that Ruhollah&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;was executed for expressing opinions and providing information on&nbsp;AmadNews&nbsp;that dissented from the official views of the Iranian Government\u201d,&nbsp;they said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January this year, Mr. Rehman, submitted&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/Countries\/IR\/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a report<\/a>&nbsp;to the UN Human Rights Council that raised concerns about&nbsp;Zam\u2019s&nbsp;case, saying that Iranian television had aired a statement by&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;in which he expressed his \u201cregret\u201d over trusting the Governments of France and other countries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018False pretences\u2019&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt has been reported that Mr.&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;was persuaded, under false pretences, to go to Iraq from France, where he had refugee status. In Iraq, he was captured and returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u201d, the report said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Rehman had recently informed the Iranian government about his serious concerns about Mr.&nbsp;Zam\u2019s&nbsp;death sentence, the statement said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>High Commissioner&nbsp;Bachelet said many activists and protesters had been given long prison terms or the death penalty for exercising their human rights after trials that failed to meet international standards.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those sentences amounted to serious violations under the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/professionalinterest\/pages\/ccpr.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights<\/a>, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to life, she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"share-this\">\n                    <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\"\nclass=\"twitter-share-button\"\ndata-count=\"horizontal\">Tweet<\/a>\n                    <script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n                    <div class=\"facebook-share-button\">\n                        <iframe\nsrc=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fcodir.net%2F%3Fp%3D1949&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=200&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21\"\nscrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;\noverflow:hidden; width:200px; height:21px;\"\nallowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iran\u2019s decision to hang media activist Ruhollah&nbsp;Zam&nbsp;on Saturday was an appalling violation of human rights that followed a deeply flawed trial process, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a&nbsp;statement&nbsp;on Monday.&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cI am appalled at the execution [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-human-rights-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1951,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions\/1951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}