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 About
Age — Nationality Iran Religion Baha'i Civil status — Education university diploma Occupation security forces Rank/Position Colonel Affiliation armed forces
Case Date of execution December 7, 1979 Location Shiraz, Iran Mode of execution shooting Charges Mass murder The Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Background
“Baha’i is not a religion, it is a political party. It is a party that was initially supported by the British and is now supported by America. They [the Baha’is] are spies...”
Ayatollah Khomeini, Founder of the Islamic Republic*
“The Qur’an recognized only the People of the Book as religious communities. Others are pagans. Pagans must be eliminated.”
Iranian Attorney General, Seyed Moussavi-Tabrizi**
“The punishment for a Mortad-e Fetri [apostate who was born in a Muslim family] is death and his repentance is not accepted.”
Head of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Courts, Ayatollah Gilani***
The authorities of the Islamic Republic have subjected the members of the Baha’i religious community of Iran (the largest minority, with approximately 300,000 members in 1979****) to systematic harassment and persecution, depriving them of their most fundamental human rights. The Baha’i religion is not recognized under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, and Iranian authorities refer to it as a heresy. As a result, the Baha’is have been denied the rights associated with the status of a religious minority; they cannot profess and practice their faith, and are banned from public functions. Discrimination under the law and in practice has subjected them to abuse and violence.
The Islamic Republic Penal Code grants no rights to Baha’is, and the courts have denied them the right of redress, or protection against assault, murder, and other forms of persecution and abuse. In so doing, the courts have treated Baha’is as unprotected citizens or “apostates,” citing eminent religious authorities whose edicts are considered to be a source of law equal to acts of Parliament. The Founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, made execution a punishment for the crime of apostasy and decreed that a Muslim would not be punished for killing an apostate.
Banishment from public life has seriously damaged the Baha’is’ professional, economic, and social lives. Soon after the revolution, a Ministry of Labor directive called for dismissal from public office and all governmental organizations and associations those “who belong to any of the misguided sects recognized by all Muslims as heretical deviations from Islam, or to organizations whose doctrine and constitution are based on rejection of the divinely-revealed religions.” Finally, the mandatory requirement of specifying religion in application forms and official documents (lifted recently in some areas under international pressure) has seriously limited Baha’is’ freedoms and opportunities in all areas of their lives, including divorce, inheritance, access to universities, and travel.
In practice, since 1980, thousands of Baha’is have lost their jobs, pensions, businesses, properties, and educational opportunities. By banning the Baha’i administration, including Spiritual Assemblies -- the elected bodies that lead and administer the affairs of Baha’i communities at both local and national levels -- the Islamic Republic has denied Baha’is the right to meet, elect, and operate their religious institutions. Further, the Iranian government has executed at least 200 Baha’is and has imprisoned, tortured, and pressured to convert to Islam scores more.
Because of the unanimous international condemnation of the persecution of this quietist (apolitical) religious community, Iranian authorities do not always admit that the Baha’is are being punished for their religious beliefs. Therefore judicial authorities have often charged Baha’is with offenses such as “being involved in counter-revolutionary activities,” “having supported the former regime,” “being agents of Zionism,” or “being involved with prostitution, adultery, and immorality.”
* Speech May 28, 1983, Sahife-ye Nur, Volume 17.
**The Baha’i Question: Iran’s Secret Blueprint for the Destruction of a Religious community: An Examination of the Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran, Baha’i International Community, 1999, p. 27. The quote was published in English in London’s Sunday Times, 20 September 1981 and cited in The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran, 1844-1984, by Douglas Martin, Baha’i Studies, volume 12/13, 1984
*** Kayhan, October 19, 1981.
**** ‘Slow Death for Iran’s Baha’is’ by Richard N. Ostling, Time Magazine, 20 February 1984. Also see ‘The Persecution of the Baha’is of Iran, 1844-1984, by Douglas Martin, Baha’i Studies, volume 12/13, 1984, p. 3. There is no current information about the number of Baha’is in Iran.
About this Case
Colonel Azematollah Fahandej, son of Zia’ollah and Tabandeh, is one of the 206 Iranian Baha’is listed in a 1993 report published by the Baha’i International Community. The report documents the persecution of the members of the Baha’i faith in the Islamic Republic of Iran and lists the Baha’is killed since 1978. Additional information has been drawn from various issues of The Baha’i World (see for example: Vol. XIX, 1982-1986, Haifa 1994). The information about him has been drawn from a book by Ms. Mahmehr Golestaneh, called A Tribute to the Faithful. His execution was announced in the Kayhan newspaper (Dec. 8 & 9, 1979) and Jomhuri Eslami (Dec. 9, 1979).
Colonel Fahandej was born on January 4, 1937 in Sa’di Village, Fars Province. Having finished elementary school there, he moved to Shiraz to study in high school. He then enrolled in the high school of the armed forces, and later in the military school in Tehran. He was promoted to the rank of second colonel and received a military merit medal. He served in different cities until he became the assistant of an air force officer in Shiraz. He was a husband a father of two.
On December 13, 1978, a group of unidentified individuals attacked the house of Colonel Fahandej’s cousin, who was killed, among others, in the shootings that ensued. The next day, houses of many Baha’is in the area were set on fire. Following the incident, Colonel Fahandej moved to Tehran and started working there. A few weeks later, some individuals accused Colonel Azematollah Fahandej of being the mastermind of the attack. His house in Shiraz was raided and looted.
Arrest and detention
Colonel Fahandej was arrested in Tehran on April 7, 1979. According to Ms. Golestaneh’s book, he was interrogated at Youth Palace in Shiraz and detained at Adelabad prison from April 16 to November 27, 1979, during which he had visits twice a week.
Trial
The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Fars Province held a session on November 25, 1979 to try Colonel Fahandej, without his prior knowledge.
Charges
The Kayhan newspaper refers to Mr. Fahandej as “one of the agents of the massacre in Sa’di village.” The newspaper report mentions that “through involvement with the clashes… he caused the death of two persons and injury to some.”
The validity of the criminal charges brought against this defendant cannot be ascertained in the absence of the basic guarantees of a fair trial.
Evidence of guilt
Ms. Golestaneh’s book refers to witnesses for Colonel Fahandej and witnesses who testified against him in court.
Defense
According to the available information, Colonel Fahandej was not present at the site of the incident on December 13, 1978; he spent that night in his house, located near the Azadi Park in Shiraz, in the presence of his wife, his brother and sister-in-law, as well as his two children. Mr. Fahandej did not have the opportunity to defend himself at the trial.
Judgment
The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Fars Province condemned Colonel Azematollah Fahandej to death. He was shot in public by firing squad on December 7, 1979 at 9:30 p.m. in Shiraz.
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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, some or all of the following human rights may 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 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.
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The right, as a member of a religious or ethnic minority, to enjoy one’s own culture or to profess and practice one’s own religion.
UDHR, Article 18; ICCPR, Article 27.
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The right to equality before the law and the right to equal protection of the law.
UDHR, Article 7; ICCPR, Article 26.
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
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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