December 25, 2010

Habibollah Latifi’s Family Make Last Effort To Save Him From Execution

Niece of Habibollah Latifi, a university student whose execution is scheduled to take place on Sunday, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Latifi’s entire family and his lawyer have gone to Sanandaj Prosecutor’s Office to request a stay of execution. “The family is not well at all. Everyone has gone to the Prosecutor’s Office to see if anything could be done. According to his lawyer, the only thing that could be done now is to request a re-trial. This request will legally prevent the execution, and direct the case for further review to the Supreme Court,” she told the Campaign.

“The last time we visited with him was last Tuesday, when we saw him through a booth. But since his lawyer was informed of the execution order and Mr. Nikbakht contacted us to let us know, we have had no news from Habib. The prison telephones are cut off and this worries us more, because when they want to execute someone, they cut off the prison telephones a few days before the execution so that no one can contact outside. He usually calls on Thursdays. We don’t know whether he knows about his execution order or not, or how he’s doing,” said Sogand Ahmadzadeh, Habibollah Latifi’s niece,

“He was just a student. He was a student who participated in student activities such as sit-in’s and gatherings, and all these activities are legal. How can a student be a mohareb, enemy of God? Habib has been accused of moharebeh, enmity with God, through the Sanandaj Intelligence Office’s fabricated case. Habib himself said in court that they have extracted confessions from him under special circumstances and under torture. But his confessions are not true, because he had to accept whatever they said under horrific conditions. But the judge did not accept his statements in court,” said Sogand Ahmadzadeh about her uncle’s moharebeh charge.

Niece of Habibollah Latifi referred to witnesses who can testify in support of him in court. “Habib has witnesses who are willing to go to court and testify that charges made against him such as planting a bomb in the [Sanandaj] Prosecutor’s car are unfounded, because he was not even in Sanandaj when the incident took place. Habib’s lawyer has asked the judge on several occasions to call his witnesses to court, but the court never granted this. All this shows that they wanted to design Habib’s case however they wished.

Regarding Habib’s reaction to the first time his execution sentence was published on websites on 8 August, she said: “We were all shocked, but later, when we talked to Habib, he said ‘they had threatened me with execution in the intelligence Office. Therefore, I expected this ruling and I wasn’t shocked.'”

“His psychological state was very good on Tuesday, which was our last meeting. But he continues to suffer from digestive problems. No matter how frequently we and he, himself, asked for treatment, it was useless. The prison has no medical facilities, and they didn’t let Habib to seek treatment outside. Other than these, he has kidney problems. During the first days of his arrest, the Sanandaj Intelligence forces had beaten him with batons so hard, he developed kidney bleeding. When weather gets cold, his kidneys will hurt again,” the death-row student’s niece told the Campaign.