Execution of Arab Iranian poet Hashem Shaabani condemned by rights groups

Poet and leading member of banned cultural organisation run by Ahwazi Arab minority reported hanged after public confession

International human rights activists have strongly condemned the execution of an Iranian poet who was a prominent member of a banned cultural organisation run by the country's Arab ethnic minority.
Hashem Shaabani. He was arrested in 2011 with at least four other fellow Arabs and sentenced to death in a trial described as grossly unfair. Hashem Shaabani, a 32-year-old poet from Iran's Ahwazi Arab community, was executed last month after he appeared on state television and denounced himself – a confession that activists say was made under duress.
Shaabani, who was from Ramshir, also known as Khalafabad, in Iran's south-western province of Khuzestan, was hanged after being found guilty of Moharebeh (war against God) for allegedly having links with a separatist terrorist organisation. He is reported to have been executed along with another cultural activist and colleague, identified as Hadi Rashedi.
According to the Iranian human rights group IHR, their families were informed by prison officials that the man had been put to death in January but the exact place and time of their executions are unknown

Press briefing notes on Iran, Papua New Guinea and Haiti

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location: Geneva
Date: 21 February 2014

1) Iran
We are deeply concerned about the reported spike in executions in Iran since the beginning of this year. In just over seven weeks, at least 80 people have been executed. Some reliable sources indicate the figure could be as high as 95.
The majority of these executions were for drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold in international law of “most serious crimes” for which the death penalty may be applied. A number of individuals were also executed in secret and at least seven people have been executed in public this year.
We are especially concerned about the reported execution in secret of Mr Hadi Rashedi and Mr Hashem Sha’bani Amouri, both members of the Ahwaz Arab community. Their executions were reportedly carried out last month (January) following proceedings that did not meet international fair trial and due process standards, as laid out in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The two men were reportedly sentenced to death on ill-defined charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh), corruption on earth (Mofsid fil-arz) and acts against national security. They were allegedly denied access to a lawyer and their families for the first nine months of their detention, and reportedly subject to torture to force confessions. Various UN Special Rapporteurs and United Nations human rights mechanisms had previously expressed serious concerns about their sentences and appealed to the Government not to proceed with the executions.
An escalation in executions, including of political prisoners and individuals belonging to ethnic minority groups, was notable in the second half of 2013. At least 500 people are known to have been executed in 2013, including 57 in public. According to some sources, the figure may be as high as 625.
We regret that the new Government has not changed its approach to the death penalty and continues to impose capital punishment for a wide range of offences. We urge the Government to immediately halt executions and to institute a moratorium.
On a related note, the Secretary-General and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran are due to present their reports to the 25th session of the Human Rights Council in the coming weeks.
2) Papua New Guinea
We are concerned about incidents that took place on 17 February in the Regional Processing Centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG), that left one asylum seeker dead and 77 others wounded, 13 of them seriously. While the precise circumstances are not yet clear, it is alarming to see violence against the very individuals who seek protection

Hashem Shaabani, poeta mártir del fanatismo religioso iraní

Hashem Shaabani, fallecido activista de los Derechos Humanos y poeta. Foto | Archivo
Las autoridades iraníes ejecutaron a finales de enero al poeta y activista Hashem Shaabani por ser un "enemigo de Dios" y amenazar la seguridad nacional, según grupos pro Derechos Humanos locales citados por la cadena de televisión qatarí Al Jazeera. El cineasta chino Zhang Yimou paga una gran multa por tener más de un hijo.
En base a estas informaciones, Shaabani y un hombre identificado como Hadi Rashedi fueron ahorcados en una prisión no identificada el 27 de enero.
Shaabani, quien se pronunció en contra del tratamiento del Gobierno contra los iraníes árabes en la provincia de Juzestán, ha estado en prisión desde febrero o marzo de 2011, cuando fue arrestado bajo la acusación de ser un 'mohareb' (enemigo de Dios).
En julio de 2013, un tribunal revolucionario islámico condenó a Shaabani y otras 13 personas por "lanzar una guerra contra Dios y difundir la corrupción sobre la tierra".
El poeta y activista era fundador de Al Hiwar, un instituto científico y cultural registrado durante el Gobierno del ex presidente Mohamad Jatami (1997-2005), y era conocido por sus poemas en árabe y persa.
El centro organiza seminarios, clases de arte y recitales de poesía en la localidad de Ramshir (Jalafiye, según es reconocida por los árabes). Las autoridades prohibieron Al Hiwar en 2005, y muchos de sus miembros han sido detenidos desde entonces.
Por su parte, la cadena de televisión británica BBC ha indicado que funcionarios del Ministerio de Información han comunicado a los familiares de los ejecutados que la condena ha sido llevada a cabo.
Irán ejecutó a 40 personas durante dos semanas en enero, según denunció la organización no gubernamental Amnistía Internacional (AI). El Centro de Documentación de los Derechos Humanos en Irán (IHRDC) ha cifrado en más de 300 el número de ejecuciones llevadas a cabo en el país desde la llegada a la Presidencia de Hasán Rohani en agosto de 2013.
Leer más:  Hashem Shaabani, poeta mártir del fanatismo religioso iraní - EcoDiario.es  http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/cultura/noticias/5531777/02/14/Hashem-Shaabani-poeta-martir-del-fanatismo-religioso-irani.html#Kku8Iv8FajfI3tNi

Le poète iranien Hashem Shaabani exécuté par le régime chiite

Hashem Shaabani avait été arrêté en 2011, puis reconnu coupable en 2013 par le tribunal de la révolution islamique, d'avoir notamment voulu « mener une guerre contre dieu » et le régime chiite. Des accusations qui lui auront valu une condamnation à mort, tout comme pour les 14 autres détenus pour délits d'opinion qui étaient jugés en même temps que lui. Ce 27 janvier, le poète et défenseur des droits de l'homme a été exécuté par pendaison.

En Iran, pays gouverné par un régime théocratique, revendiquer sa liberté d'expression ou encore vouloir prêcher l'islam authentique est considéré comme un crime, punissable de la peine de mort. Le président Rouhani, élu au cours de l'été 2013, avait promis de suivre une voie modérée dans ses affaires internationales et assouplir les restrictions pesant sur les libertés civiles.

Mais depuis son élection, plus de 300 personnes auraient été exécutées dans le pays, selon les chiffres publiés par le Iran Human

Death of a Poet in Iran

“I have tried to defend the legitimate right that every people in this world should have, which is the right to live freely with full civil rights. With all these miseries and tragedies, I have never used a weapon to fight these atrocious crimes except the pen,” wrote Hashem Shaabani, a young  Ahwazi Arab poet from an Iranian prison. On Jan. 27, 2014, he was hanged along with 14 other prisoners, accused of “waging war on God.”
Radio Free Europe reported that he had been sentenced by an Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal. Shaabani’s fate was shared by dozens of killings of Ahwazis, many of them on trumped-up charges. There have been demonstrations in Iran against the Iranian government’s discrimination against its Arab minority, particularly regarding employment, housing, and basic civil and political rights.
Repression against Ahwazis has been brutal. This fact has been repeatedly denounced by Human Rights Watch, which has called on Iranian authorities to allow independent international media and human rights organizations access to investigate allegations of serious rights violations in Khuzestan Province. Khuzestan, where most Ahwazi Arabs live in Iran, is located in the southwest of the country and is rich in oil and gas

Iran executes Peace Poet Hashem Shaabani

A poet was hanged in Iran yesterday. I confess to paying little attention to the Middle East these days because I believe it’s an Orwellian endless war being milked for profit with the Saudi’s on one side and Israel on the other, and MI6 and the CIA pulling strings all over the place. Forget about any peace movement ever emerging anywhere over there. Any potential messiahs are killed as quickly as they appear. Nothing political happens by accident in this environment and the nastiest of spook ops unfold on a daily basis. But still, I had to know more about this peace poet and why he had to die.

Hassan Rouhani (left, wearing turban) is the villain in this tragedy. He’s the 7th President of Iran and has quietly executed over 400 dissidents, while projecting himself as a moderate in favor of women’s rights. Time magazine fawns on him, calling him the 9th most powerful person in the world? One wonders why his reign of terror gets virtually no play in the Western media. But then, Western media is really a carefully controlled cartel run by a handful of global corporations

hanged the poet Hashem Shaabani. Charged with moharebeh, "waging war on God," he was imprisoned and tortured for three years. On Jan. 27, h

Sons of the Islamic Revolution

In Tehran last week, the 35th anniversary of Iran's revolution was celebrated with chants of "Death to America!" and the burning of American flags. Also on display were posters showing Iranian boots stomping on U.S. President Barack Obama's face.

Separate from the festivities, Iranian military commanders have been testing a "new long-range ballistic missile that can carry multiple warheads," and threatening to send warships steaming toward America's coastal waters. State television has aired simulated footage of Iran's military attacking an American aircraft carrier and bombing Israeli cities.

Iran’s religious war on minority Arab poets

NEW YORK – “I have tried to defend the legitimate right of every person in this world … to live freely with full civil rights. With all these miseries and tragedies, I have never used a weapon to fight these atrocious crimes except the pen,” wrote Hashem Shaabani, a young Iranian Ahwazi Arab poet from an Iranian prison. On Jan. 27, he was hanged along with 14 other prisoners, accused of “waging war on God.”

Radio Free Europe reported that he had been sentenced by an Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal. Dozens of other Ahwazis shared Shaabani’s fate. There have been demonstrations in Iran against government discrimination against its Arab minority with regard to employment, housing and basic civil rights.

Repression against Ahwazis has been brutal. Human Rights Watch has called on Iranian authorities to allow independent international media and human rights organizations to investigate allegations of rights violations in Khuzestan Province, where most Ahwazi Arabs live. It is in the southwest and is rich in oil and gas.

Iran’s government discriminates against anyone who is not Persian, says Taha Amjad, a spokesman for the London-based European Ahwazi Human Rights Organization. It is telling that although Kuzhestan is rich in oil and gas, its people are among the poorest in the country, with very low literacy levels.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, states: “The high number of reported arrests and killings in Khuzestan Province in recent years, combined with the information blackout, suggests that the government has terrible things it wants to hide.” On Feb. 5, Freedom House, a human rights organization, reported that Shaabani was subjected to torture and interrogation while in prison.

President Hassan Rouhani has not been able to stop executions since he assumed office last year. Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and Christof Heynes, the U.N. special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, urged the government in January to stop adding to the number of hangings. Both experts claim that at least 40 persons were hanged in the first two weeks of January.

In all of 2013, 625 people were executed, including 29 women and several political prisoners, accused of “Moharabeh,” considered by many to be a political charge dressed up as a religious offense.

Iranian journalist Amir Taheri says Shaabani wrote that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani eliminated more than a dozen writers and poets and that the worst wave of executions — more than 80 intellectuals killed — happened under former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. It is a sad time when Iran, a birthplace of humanity’s great and more revered writers and intellectuals, decides instead to kill its poets.

Arabisch-iranischer Aktivist erhängt

Hashem Shebani, auch Shabaninejad genannt, beim erzwungenen Fernsehauftritt im Dezember 2011.  Screenshot: youtube.com/user/paniranistpart

Seine Waffe war die Feder

Haschem Schabani setzte sich im Iran für die arabische Minderheit ein. Nach einem erzwungenen Geständnis wurde er als Terrorist hingerichtet.

Der 32-Jährige wurde in Ahwas in der Provinz Chousistan im Südwesten des Iran geboren, einer Region, in der viele Araber leben. Dies sollte sein Leben stark beeinflussen. An der Universität Ahwas studierte er arabische Literatur, Erziehungswissenschaften und Politik. Er arbeitete als Lehrer, zuletzt in der Stadt Ramshir, ebenfalls in Chousistan, wo er bis zu seiner Festnahme mit Frau und Kind lebte.

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Document - Further information: Iran: Two Ahwazi Arab men executed, three at risk

Further information on UA: 137/12 Index: MDE 13/008/2014 Iran Date: 14 February 2014

URGENT ACTIONLogo

TWo Ahwazi AraB MEN EXECUTED, THREE AT RISK

Teachers Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Amouri, both members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, were executed in secret at the end of January. Three other Ahwazi Arab men remain at risk of execution.

On 29 January an official from the Ministry of Intelligence called the families of Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Amouri to inform them that the two men had been executed and buried a few days earlier, but would not reveal their place of burial. The official told the families they were not permitted to hold a public memorial for the two men and had only 24 hours in which to hold a private service. Their bodies may have been buried in unmarked graves in one of three cemeteries in Khuzestan province known colloquially as La’nat Abad (the place of the damned) and reserved for executed political prisoners. Ministry of Intelligence officials have told Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Amouri’s families not to speak with human rights organizations or they would face legal consequences.

Hadi Rashedi and Hashem Sha’bani Amouri were transferred on 7 December 2013 to an unknown location from Karoun Prison in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, sparking fears that they would be executed imminently. They had been arrested in September 2011, along with Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka, apparently in connection with their cultural activities on behalf of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority. They were sentenced to death on 7 July 2012 after being convicted of charges including “enmity against God” and “spreading propaganda against the system”. All five men were denied access to a lawyer and their families for the first nine months of their detention and are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Mohammad Ali Amouri, Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka remain in Karoun Prison where they are permitted weekly visits with their families. They remain at risk of execution

Nyhetsoppdateringer om menneskerettigheter i Iran

Nyhetsoppdateringer om menneskerettigheter i Iran

31. januar 2014 To politiske fanger hengt i Iran
To arabiske menn, Hadi Rashedi og Hashem Shabani, har blitt hengt i Ahvaz. Familiene til Hadi Rashedi og Hashem Shabani gikk i nesten to måneder uten å vite hvor de to befant seg, eller hvordan det gikk med dem, skriver Justice for Iran.
Etterretningsagentene ringte plutselig til familiene deres den 29. januar og fortalte at Hadi Rashedi og Hashem Shabani var blitt hengt.  Rashedi og Shabani ble begravet i stillhet og etterretningsagenter fortalte ingenting til familien om hverken henrettelsene eller begravelsene.

Iranian Poet and Activist Hashem Shaabani Executed

We were saddened and horrified today to learn of the death of

Hashem Shaabani, who was executed on January 27th by the order of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. From Radio Free Europe:

    An Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal reportedly had sentenced the poet to death, along with 14 others, last July on charges that included “waging war on God.”

Iran Hangs Poet Hashem Shaabani for “Waging War Against God”

After Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, approved the order, poet and human rights activist Hashem Shaabani was executed by hanging on January 27, 2014. The 32 year old had been imprisoned and tortured for 3 years prior to his execution.
The charges against Shaabani included “waging war against God” and endangering national security. Shaabani was an Iranian of Arab ethnicity and founded the Dialogue Institute, which promoted Arabic culture and literature in Iran. Shaabani was arrested in February, 2011. When shown on Iran's Press TV in December 2011, Shaabani was alleged to have confessed to being involved in “separatist terrorism” on behalf of Iran's Arabs.