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 About
Age — Nationality Iran Religion Islam Civil status — Education — Occupation — Rank/Position — Affiliation armed group, Islamic revolutionary
Case Date of execution September 27, 1981 Location Esfahan, Iran Mode of execution — Charges Sympathizing with anti-regime guerilla groups; War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam Case Remarks
The information about the execution of Mr. Ba'aqli and 52 other individuals was released in a communique of the Esfahan Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal, published in the newspaper, Jomhuri Eslami, September 30, 1981.
Arrest and detention
No information is available about Mr. Ba'aqli's arrest or detention.
Trial
No information is available about Mr. Ba'aqli's trial.
Charges
The defendant was accused of "being a member of the armed wing of the People' s Mojahedin Organization... armed action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, terror, murder and attacking the revolutionary guard and bassij brothers, attacking the Bassij dormitories, throwing Molotov cocktails and three ways [explosives] in public places, [aiming] cars and shops of the revolutionary guards, Bassij and the hezbollahi people."
: These charges are collective and brought against the defendant and 52 other individuals. The prosecution does not mention any specific offense for the defendant.
Evidence of guilt
No information is available about evidence presented against the defendant.
Defense
No information is available about Mr. Ba'aqli's defense.
Judgment
He was found guilty of "armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic" and sentenced to death. He was executed on Sunday night, September 27th.
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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: 1981-1988
Read about the conditions in which individuals were detained, tried and sentenced. Pre-trial detentions
The accused were held, sometimes without being charged, for months or years in overcrowded prisons. During their detention, prisoners of conscience, and in particular supporters of political opposition groups or members of religious or ethnic minorities, were routinely subject to physical and psychological torture. Interrogators used torture, authorized by the post-revolutionary law of Ta’zir (Discretionary Punishment Law), to obtain confessions of guilt or to induce repentance. The line between trial and interrogation was often blurred by the fact that the same individual would function as prosecutor, interrogator and judge.
Trials
Executed detainees may or may not have been tried formally. Prisoners of conscience were often tried through a summary process that might have lasted only a few minutes. When disclosed, charges facing the defendants were often vague or based on coerced confessions. Defendants had no access to attorneys, and they might not have been allowed to defend themselves.
Appeal processes
Convicts could not appeal their sentence and were often executed shortly after their conviction. Their execution was not necessarily announced.
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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.
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The right not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation.
UDHR, Article 12, ICCPR, Article 17.1.
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The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
UDHR, Article 18; ICCPR, Article 18.1, ICCPR, Article 18.2; Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Article 1 and Article 6.
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The right to freedom of opinion and expression.
UDHR, Article 19; ICCPR, Article 19.3.
The right to due process
b. 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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a. 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
d. The right to counsel of his own choosing or legal aid and the right to meet with one’s attorney in confidence ICCPR, 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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c. The right to adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defense case.
ICCPR, Article 14.3.b.
g. 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 or punishment.
ICCPR, Article 7; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Article 1 and Article 2.
Trial rights
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 the right 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
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.
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.
The right of a person not to be subjected to the capital punishment for an offence committed before the age of eighteen. The right not to be subjected to the capital punishment while pregnant. ICCPR, Article 6.5; Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37.a.
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