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 About
Age 52 Nationality Iran Religion Presumed Muslim Civil status — Education university diploma Occupation high ranking government official Rank/Position Minister of Information in Sharif Emami's Cabinet and Minister of Education in Azhari's Cabinet Institution executive, former regime
Case Date of execution May 8, 1979 Location Tehran, Iran Mode of execution shooting Charges Corruption on earth; Fighting against the revolution/blocking the path of God; Murder of persons and/or killing Muslims or/and freedom fighters; Torture; War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam About this Case
The execution of Dr. Mohammad Reza Ameli Tehrani, along with 20 other individuals, was announced in the Kayhan newspaper on May 8, 1979. He is one of 438 victims listed in a March 13, 1980 Amnesty International report. The report lists defendants who were convicted by Revolutionary Tribunals in the period from their inception until 12 August 1979. The list of victims and charges is drawn from sources including translations of indictments, reports of trials carried out by local and foreign media and the bulletins of the official Pars News Agency reports. Additional information has been sent to Omid via an electronic form by an individual familiar with this case.
Dr. Ameli Tehrani, an Anesthesiologist, started his political career as an elected member of the Parliament to represent the people of Mahabad (West Azarbaijan province) in 1967. He was appointed as a secretary of the Rastakhiz party in 1975. In the autumn of 1977, he became the assistant to the secretary-general of the party and in January 1980, he was appointed the deputy of the secretary-general of the party. He resigned from his position in July 1980 and started working as the Information and Tourism Minister in the cabinet of Sharif Emami. Later, he was appointed the Education Minister in the military government of Azhari (Nov. 8, 1978 – Jan. 7, 1979).
The Rastakhiz Party was established in 1975 as a single party, after the abolition of such parties as Novin and Mardom. The regime at the time announced membership in Rastakhiz to be the civil duty of all citizens. The main principles of Rastakhiz were: loyalty to the Constitution, the Monarchy, and the goals of the White Revolution. The latter was a series of reforms, launched by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-1980) in order to improve the economic and social situation in the country. Land reforms and women’s suffrage were at the center of the White Revolution. Among other reforms of the White Revolution were combating illiteracy and the formation of “Army of Knowledge” and “Army of Health,” which added a component of civil service in remote areas to the compulsory military service.
According to the form, he was an.
Arrest and detention
No information regarding the defendant's arrest and detention is available.
Trial
The Kayhan report contains no information regarding the defendant’s trial other than he was tried at Branch 3 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran, although the newspaper printed the charges against and defense of Mr. Ameli Tehrani.
Charges
The indictment has not been published. The newspaper story does not specify the personal charges against Mr. Ameli Tehrani; it only mentioned the collective charges brought up against him and 20 other individual: “being at war with God and God’ propher, and insulting the Emam, torture and cruelty towards the public, participation in mass murder of people”. According to Amnesty International, Mr. Ameli Tehrani was chared with: corruption on earth; war on God, God’s prophet and the representative of the Twelfth Imam; torture; mass murder; insulting the religious groups, insulting Muslim prisoners, insulting the pure clergymen and trying to discredit them by calling them communists; slander and injury against people.
The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial. International human rights organizations have drawn attention to reports indicating that the Islamic Republic’s authorities have executed individuals on trumped up charges such as drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences. The exact number of people convicted based on trumped-up charges is unknown.
Evidence of guilt
No information is available on the evidence presented against Mr. Ameli Tehrani however the Judge’s arguments and Mr. Ameli Tehrani’s defense suggest that his ministry at the Azhari cabinet was used an evidence against him.
Defense
The judge, having pointed out to the curfew and “murders” perpetrated my army officials, in which Mr. Ameli Tehrani was allegedly involved, asked him to defend himself. Mr. Ameli Tehrani replied: “the curfew applies when… non-military forces are not sufficient. I was not responsible for the curfew. I was in a state committee that started its work after the curfew bill was passed. I was against it and I expressed my opposition to the state committee and asserted that people must not be target of shootings. He also added that the mobilization of armed forced in one area was beyond his power and that he had no authority with regards to the curfew.
Concerning the break-out of fire, the details of which were not mentioned in the newspaper story, he asserted: “It was people who set [buildings] on fire. But SAVAK agents were definitely involved as well… In order to investigate the case, I traveled to Kerman and asked the head of the SAVAK and the mayor to resign… I was only a small part of the system and the regime; and I fought it as much as it was possible for me.”
Judgment
The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Tehran found Dr. Mohammad Reza Ameli Tehrani, as well as 20 other individuals, “corruptor on earth” and condemned him to death. These 21 persons were executed by a firing squad in Tehran on May 8, 1979 at 5 a.m.
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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.
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The right not to be punished for any crime on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time it was committed.
UDHR, Article 11.2; ICCPR, Article 15, Article 6.2.
The right to due process
The right to be presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent and impartial tribunal in accordance with law.
UDHR, Article 11.1; ICCPR, Article 14.1 and Article 14.2. -
The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the right to change and manifest one’s religion or belief.
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.
In its general comment 22 (48) of 20 July 1993, the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee observed that the freedom to "have or to adopt" a religion or belief necessarily entailed the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views, as well as the right to retain one's religion or belief. Article 18, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, including the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert.
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The right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas.
UDHR, Article 19; ICCPR, Article 19.1 and ICCPR, Article 19.2.
The right to due process
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 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, and Article 8. -
The right to adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defense case.
ICCPR, Article 14.3.b; Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, Article 8%viol_bprl_8%..
The right not to be compelled to testify against oneself or to confess to guilt.
ICCPR, Article 14.3.g. -
The right not to be subjected to torture and to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
UDHR, Article 5; 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 9.3, Article 14.1, Article 14.3.c.
The right to examine, or have examined the witnesses against one and to obtain the attendance and examination of defense witnesses under the same conditions as witnesses for the prosecution. ICCPR, 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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