Source: En Vero English
Author: S. A. Aram
October 10, 2018
Review: Jorge B.
Mohammad Ali Taheri’s complaint letter and summary of his case sent to the Court of Government Employees
On August 18, 2018, Mr. Mohammad Ali Taheri sent a letter of complaint to the Court of Government Employees including a summary of his case. The letter clearly explains how he was mistreated by different levels of government employees such as officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the judiciary. Unfortunately, the Court of Government Employees disregarded his letter, and the case was sent to Branch 36 of the Court of Appeal that upheld the five-year prison sentence. A translation of the original letter follows:
Greetings,
I, Mohammad Ali Taheri, hereby submit a complaint concerning the number of intentional and systematic criminal offences committed by the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran with respect to my case, for further investigation and action.
- On December 12, 2010, security forces of the Sarallah Unit, a section of the IRGC, illegally detained and temporarily arrested me on false charges of being a member of a Marxist organization, the Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas, of assembly and collusion to commit a crime against national security, organized terror, and threatening to murder a number of people. They tried to force me to write a false confession through fear, harassment and threats against members of my family, but they did not succeed. On July 3, 2016, the Supreme Court rejected the above-mentioned charges for lack of supporting evidence.
- After failing to get me to agree to a dictated confession, after illegally interrogating me for months in private places, they transferred me to the Shaid Moghadasi Court. On May 4, 2011, Mr. Asadi, interrogator of Branch 5, detained me on the false charge of spreading corruption on Earth even though the accusation was not in accordance with the old laws, the subject matter of articles 183-188 of the Islamic Penal Code (IPC). This confinement still continues, in violation of article 242.
- Judge Pir Abbasi, Head of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court should have announced an acquittal of all charges based on the above men-tioned points, but by holding a trial in 2011 and asking unrelated questions based on Articles 183-188 of the IPC about spreading corruption on Earth, he illegally kept my case open and provided the pretext for the arrest of more than 150 students of my legally approved courses by security prosecutors of Sarallah. All these people were tortured and their families were threatened into testifying against me based on the dictated confession. They wanted to use these testimonies to prove the charge of corruption on Earth, which no article in either the old laws of the IPC or the new laws values these kind of testimonies. Even then, they did not succeed in getting any false testimony against me.
- My case remained illegally open, and Judge Ahmadzadeh replaced Judge Pir Abbasi. Considering they were not successful in getting false testimonials, Judge Ahmadzadeh started another illegal trial in 2015, based on Article 286 of the new IPC about corruption on Earth, and he sentenced me to death. The Supreme Court quashed this verdict because it wasn’t in accordance with Articles 183-188 of the old laws, and they could have referred to the new laws, approved after the crime, based on article 10 of the IPC. However, my action wasn’t in accordance with Article 286 of the new laws, therefore there was no legal standing for it.
- Again, instead of an acquittal from the charges, judge Ahmadzadeh with his counsellor Mr. Teyrani condemned me to death in August 2017 by referring to Article 286 of the IPC for the second time, without considering the Supreme Court’s decision that had been announced in December 2015. My case was sent to a parallel court for sentencing. As part of my present complaint, I consider this illegal death sentence a murder attempt since it violates and deviates from the law and an abuse of power, not including other crimes by the Sarallah Unit and the illegal arrest of hundreds of innocent people by security forces just for holding a peaceful assembly.
- Following these criminal acts, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Salavati and his counsellor judge Ahmadpour, as a parallel branch, refused to follow the Supreme Court’s verdict, specifically clause 4, section B of Article 469. This time they referred to the note of article 286 of the new laws and sentenced me to five years in prison, which was a biased and illegal act for being in violation of Articles 4, 242, 313 and 439 of the IPC.
- After my appeal, my case was not sent to the Supreme Court; instead it was sent to Branch 36 of the Appeal Court, totally biased against me.
- Ever since Branch 36 of the Appeal Court headed by Judge Ahmad Zargar and his counsellor Mr. Babaei upheld the illegal sentence of Branch 15, headed by Judge Salavati (see point 6), which did not consider the Supreme Court’s decision, the illegal and criminal acts by the judiciary authorities have continued. The verdict of Branch 36 in itself is a case in point. Therefore, a brief study of my case and its process can show the bias, prejudice, violations of law, human rights violations, trial delays, and criminal collusion in character assassination by the Revolutionary Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite all the legal actions I have taken, four suicide attempts to avoid being forced to sign dictated false confessions and save my family’s life, 17 hunger strikes to protest this biased process and 8 times becoming unconscious as a result of long hunger strikes, nothing has been done to protect my rights.
Consequently, I request your help by further studying my case and taking the necessary legal actions regarding this matter.
Wishing you the divine grace,
Mohammad Ali Taheri
August 18, 2018
