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 About
Age 38 Nationality Iran Religion Presumed Muslim Civil status — Education — Occupation unspecified occupation Rank/Position — Affiliation Private business
Case Date of execution May 24, 1979 Location Qazvin, Iran Mode of execution shooting Charges Corruption on earth; Mass murder; War on God, God's Prophet and the deputy of the Twelfth Imam About this Case
Mr. Kamran Mafi 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.
The news of this execution, along with that of two military personnel, was also reported in the Kayhan daily on May 26 and 31, 1979. The former report quotes the official communiqué of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Qazvin.
The first Head of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunals, Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali mentions the execution and trial of Mr. Mafi in his memoirs (Sayeh Publishers, Tehran).
Further information regarding Mr. Mafi’s case was sent to Omid via electronic forms by one of his children and a person familiar with this case, who wishes to remain anonymous.
According to the information available on these forms, Mr. Mafi, a father of 7, was a landowner and a farmer in the Qazvin area. He had no political affiliation. He was once arrested at the end of April 1979, but was freed after the court found him innocent.
Arrest and detention
According to the information available on the electronic forms, Mr. Mafi’s brother was arrested by the authorities and kept as bait for two months, so that they could find out Mr. Mafi’s whereabouts. He was arrested for the second time on May 16, 1979 when Revolutionary Guards raided his house in Tehran, shooting as they entered. The order for his arrest is believed to have come from the head of the Qazvin Committee and he was taken to the Committee by the Revolutionary Guards without a proper arrest warrant.
He was reportedly tortured in prison. When his body was returned to his family after his execution, he had bruises and a broken arm. The committee never informed his family of any reason for his arrest. He was denied visits in prison and the right to have an attorney. The authorities repeatedly told Mr. Mafi’s family that he would be released in a few days. Mr. Mafi was detained for 8 days before his execution.
Trial
Based on Khalkhali’s memoirs:
“Mr. Sheikh Qodrat Alikhani and a few others from Qazvin came to visit Emam [Khomeini] and requested that I go to Qazvin for the trial of some criminals. By Emam’s orders, I went to Qazvin and I tried 3 people and executed them the same night and I also defrocked and exiled 12 men pretending to be men of religion…”
Kayhan daily’s report of the Islamic Revolutionary courts communiqué also confirms that on May 22, 1979 the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Qazvin tried several individuals including Kamran Mafi.
Charges
According to the newspaper report, Mr. Mafi, along with Major Tufani, and Soldier Gheiz Ali Roshpardaz, were collectively charged with “having previous criminal records, shootings, murder, and being corruptors on earth.” It is not clear whether there was any connection between the three defendants, and if Mr. Mafi was found guilty of all charges or whether he was guilty of a specific charge.
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 brought trumped-up charges against their political opponents and executed them for drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences. Each year, Iranian authorities sentence to death hundreds of alleged common criminals, following judicial processes that fail to meet international standards. The exact number of people convicted based on trumped-up charges is unknown.
Evidence of guilt
The report of this execution does not contain information regarding the evidence provided against the defendant.
Defense
Mr. Mafi’s family stresses that he was innocent and was executed for being against the revolution.”
Judgment
The Qazvin Revolutionary Court declared Mr. Mafi a “corruptor on earth” and sentenced him to death. According to Khalkhali’s memoires, Mr. Mafi was executed hours after the end of his trial. He was executed by a firing squad at 4:30 a.m. in Qazvin.
After his execution his father filed an official complaint against the local Committee. The authorities threatened to execute him if he did not withdraw his complaint. They told him to stop probing into the matter if he wanted to stay alive. All of Mr. Mafi’s property was confiscated by the Bonyad Mostaz’afan (Foundation of the Oppressed, a governmental organization) after his execution.
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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 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. 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. -
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. -
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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