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 About
Age — Nationality Iran Religion Presumed Muslim Civil status — Education university diploma Occupation high ranking official, security forces Rank/Position Retired Colonel, Head of Shiraz University Guard Institution police, former regime Institution educational establishment
Case Date of execution July 5, 1980 Location Shiraz, Iran Mode of execution unspecified execution method Charges Torture About this Case
The execution of Colonel Ghazanfar Bahmanpur and 15 others was reported by the correspondents of the Jomhuri Eslami and Kayhan dailies in Shiraz (July 5, 1980). According to the Shiraz correspondent of the Enqelab Eslami daily of the same date, the religious judge who had attended the Friday Sermon in Shiraz spoke before performing the prayer while announcing the news:
“As I was busy examining the cases of drug dealers, the President asked me in a telephone conversation to examine the cases of first rate criminals with political charges and issue the verdict based on the Shari’a law. I requested that the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor of Shiraz give us what they have at the Revolutionary Tribunal. Unfortunately, these cases were not passed on to us, and therefore I sentenced five people to death based on what was available at the prison or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards headquarters, and considering the testimonies of witnesses and unbiased individuals. One or two of these five people were already tried at the court and sentenced to life imprisonment, but I sentenced them to death, considering the crimes they had committed; and I did not think it was even that necessary to examine their cases, anyway. The death sentence was carried out today at dawn, and this was my Islamic and human duty and I have done my job in accordance with Shari’a standards.”
The report of the Friday Sermon speech points to the fact that these executions caused disagreement among the clerics. In response to his critic, the religious judge said: “The gentleman who has been silent so far and has not shown the slightest reaction to the blood of our martyrs, has telephoned certain people last night, telling them that I have acted illegally. It must be said to him that it is none of his business. It would only be fair if I performed my duty to defrock this pseudo-cleric so that other pseudo-clerics do not dare present themselves against the Islamic nature of Iran.”
Arrest and detention
The circumstances of this individual’s arrest and detention are not known.
Trial
Based on the Jomhuri Eslami report, the religious judge traveled to Shiraz and, after visiting the Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) headquarters of Shiraz, headed for the Shiraz Tribunal, where he examined the cases of sixteen individuals charged with a range of crimes from killing and suppression of revolutionary combatants to drug dealing and sodomy. Col. Bahrampur, who was previously sentenced to life imprisonment by the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz, was one of the defendants re-tired at this special court by the religious judge.
Charges
The Jomhuri Eslami report solely referred to Col. Bahrampur as a “torturer.” However, the Kayhan report specified that he was charged with “torturing and hurting university students” and “attacking the houses of Ayatollahs Dastgheib and Mahallati in February 4, 1964.”
Evidence of guilt
The reports contain no information regarding the evidence presented against the defendant at the trial.
Defense
No information is available on the defendant’s defense.
Judgment
Based on the Kayhan report, the defendant, previously sentenced to life imprisonment by the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz, was declared a “corruptor on earth” and sentenced to death at this special tribunal headed by the religious judge. The sentence was carried out immediately. The Jomhuri Eslami specifies that the sentence included confiscation of property for six of the accused. It is not clear whether or not Col. Bahrampur’s properties were confiscated.
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Human rights violations in this caseThe legal context
Read about the courts, the judges, and the procedure. The courts
Special courts, known as the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunals, were set up after the February 1979 revolution. Their jurisdiction encompasses a wide array of offences ranging from association with or support of the former regime, promotion of foreign influence, and enmity with the revolution to possession, use or sales of narcotic drugs, murder, and profiteering. In the 1980s, a penal court, presided over by one judge, was created to handle some of the offenses punishable by death, such as theft or adultery. These tribunals’ decisions must be confirmed by a chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The judges
Prosecutors and judges are not necessarily jurists. By 1981, the judiciary was purged of judges trained in law schools. They were replaced by seminary graduates and students, as well as by political appointees (an estimated 2000 by 1989). Since by law judges are only required to have a high school diploma and must be faithful to the Islamic Republic’s tenets, new recruits often have little formal training in the law and are chosen because of their political affiliation.
The procedure
The procedures of these ecclesiastical tribunals fail to meet the minimum guarantees for fair trial as established by international human rights instruments and by sha’ria (the Islamic system of law). In addition to executions ordered by revolutionary tribunals, extra-judicial executions are carried out, targeting dissidents and opposition leaders. In some cases, both inside and outside of Iran, these executions have been traced back to Iranian officials. It is, however, not known if in these particular cases trials are held in absentia.
Sources (Among others): Amnesty International, Law and Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, February 1980; Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, The Justice System of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1992; E/CN.4/1989/26 p.14; UNCHR, Resolution 1984/54 , Abolition of Torture - Iran - 1; 28 November 1984; Report on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Special Representative of the Commission, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, 28 January 1987. Amnesty International, A SHOCKED WORLD WATCHES IN DISBELIEF, VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1987-1990. Memoirs of Ayatollah Khalkhali, religious judge and former head of revolutionary tribunals (2001), and Ayatollah Montazeri, dismissed successor to Ayatollah Khomeini (2001). UNCH, E/CN.4/1994/50, Final report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran prepared by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, pursuant to Commission resolution 1993/62 of 10 March 1993 and Economic and Social Council decision 1993/273. E/CN.4/1994/50, 2 February 1994.
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 close... Detentions, interrogations, and trials: 1979-1980
Read about the conditions in which individuals were detained, tried and sentenced. Pre-trial detentions
The charges upon which the accused were arraigned were often extremely broad. Defendants generally had no access to legal counsel nor to their file and the evidence against them prior to the trial.
Trials
Witnesses might be called, or the statement of persons with relevant information read into the court’s record. Accusation witnesses could come forward the day of the trial to give evidence against the accused, but in most cases, defense witnesses were not allowed in court. There was no automatic right of a defendant to cross-examine witnesses or to know the source of the evidence against him. The defendant had an opportunity to state his side of the matter and attempt to refute what was said against him, but the final decision was solely up to the discretion of the religious judge.
Appeal processes
The judgments of the Revolutionary Courts were not subject to appeal. The convicts were generally executed within a few hours of the judgment.
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close... Based on the available information, the following human rights have been violated in this case:
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The right to liberty and security of the person. The right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 9.1.
The right to due process
The right to be presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent and impartial tribunal in accordance with law. ICCPR, Article 14.1 and Article 14.2.
Pre-trial detention rights
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The right to know promptly and in detail the nature and cause of the charges against one.
UDHR, Article 9(2); ICCPR, Article 9.2 and Article 14.3.a
The right to counsel of one’s own choosing or the right to legal aid. The right to communicate with one’s attorney in confidence ICCPR, Article 14.3.b and Article 14.3.d; Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, Article 1, Article 2 Article 5, Article 6, Article 8.
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The right to adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defense case.
ICCPR, Article 14.3.b.
The right not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess to guilt. ICCPR, Article 14.3.g.
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The right not to be subjected to torture and to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
ICCPR, Article 7; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Article 1 and Article 2.
Trial rights
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The right to a fair and public trial without undue delay.
ICCPR, Article 14.1, Article 14.3.c.
The right to defense through an attorney or legal aid. The right to examine, or have examined, the witnesses against one and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on one’s behalf under the same conditions as prosecution witnesses. ICCPR, Article 14.3.d and Article 14.3.e.
The right to have the decision rendered in public. ICCPR, Article 14.1.
Judgment rights
Capital punishment
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The inherent right to life, of which no one shall be arbitrarily deprived.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 3; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 6.1; Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, Article 1.1, Article 1.2.
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The right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
ICCPR, Article 7; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Article 1 and Article 2.
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