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 About
Age 29 Nationality Iran Religion Islam (Sunni) Civil status Single Education college education Occupation student Rank/Position — Affiliation no political affiliation Affiliation educational establishment
Case Date of execution November 10, 2005 Location Mahabad, Iran Mode of execution extrajudicial-shooting Charges —
Introduction:
Information regarding the extrajudicial killing of Mr. Shirko Amini’s, an Iranian Kurd, was collected from the Fars News Website (November 21, 2005), Radio Farda (November 24, 2005), and from a phone interview conducted by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF) with a person close to him in Mahabad (August 28, 2006)
Two police officers shot Mr. Amini dead in the Bagh Shaigan neighborhood in Mahabad at 10:00 a.m. on November 10, 2005. He died as a result of two bullet wounds. He was a practicing Sunni from Mahabad in the Azarbaijan Province in the northwest of Iran. He was enrolled in the accountancy program in Payam Nur University in the same city as a last year student. He was not connected to any political parties but had been arrested several times for his religious activities (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
Independent sources and news agencies reported that the Mahabad population reacted to Mr. Amini's killing by strikes and Bazaar closures. (Radio Farda, November 24, 2005) The official Fars News stressed however that there was no reaction in response to his death. (Fars news, November 21, 2005)
Mr. Amini’s family account regarding the circumstances of Mr. Amini’s death conflicts with the official statements about the event.
Official Reactions:
Mr. Amini’s death was reported in Fars News Agency. The latter,referring to a statement by the Head of Police News Agency of Azarbaijan Gharbi Province, described Mr. Amini as a "hooligan in Mahabad who was harassing ladies near the girls’ schools." (Fars News, November 21, 2005).
This police official said that the violent reaction of Mr. Amini to the police officers caused the shootings. According to him, the police officers of the 13th precinct of Mahabad halted Mr. Amini; however he assaulted them with a knife and wounded one officer severely in the abdomen. Subsequently, the other officer, defending himself, shot Mr. Amini dead. (Fars News, November 21, 2005)
There is no mention of a police officer injured by Mr. Amini in any other report. According to a person close to Mr. Amini, after his death at the hospital, the body was taken to the governor’s office and from there to Orumieh for burial. With the family’s persistence, the body was handed back to them in the presence of law enforcement officers and was taken to Mahabad with an ambulance. The burial took place under tight police control and only very close family members could attend it. Police officers, on their way to the funeral, tore down the death announcements from walls, which consisted of leaflets that announced the time and place of Mr. Amini’s funeral (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
Family Reaction
According to the person interviewed by ABF, in contrary to the official statements, he was a religious and generous man whose activities disturbed local officials. He used to write articles about Kurdistan and give public speeches. He also used to preach to people by reading out verses from the Quran (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
At the age of 2, Mr Amini had lost his mother and one of his sisters when a bomb shell hit their house during the rocket attack of Mahabad by the central government. Mr. Amini chose this house from which the shell was shot as a place for prayers and meditation. This place was close to the building of National Television in Mahabad, which draw the unfavorable attention of the Herasat office, an intelligence unit within the National TV. He was therefore arrested 3 times (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
According to Ms. Sheyda Amini, Mr. Amini’s latest arrest was during the protests after Shwaneh Qaderi’s extrajudicial killing (Radio Farda, November 24, 2005). Mr. Kamal Asfarm (Shwaneh Qaderi) was a 28 year old construction worker from Mahabad. The news of his extrajudicial killing along with pictures of his tortured body caused a widespread unrest in Kurdish towns. The protests were repressed violently and many political and civil activists were arrested. Mr. Amini was arrested during these unrests. Although he did not have any political affiliation, he was charged with possession of leaflets pertaining to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (ABF, August 28, 2006).
According to the available information, Mr. Amini had one serious confrontation with a prison guard and was severely beaten as a result. At one occasion, when Mr. Amini was praying, one of the prison guards imitating sexual acts with another male inmate told him: “this is the prayers, not the thing that you do!” Mr. Amini got irritated and attacked and injured the guard. Afterwards, the prison guards beat him severely. Mr. Amini’s father was able to get the release of Mr. Amini by paying Diah (a kind of monetary compensation in cases of corporal injuries) after news leaked from prison alerted him to the life threatening situation Mr. Amini was in after he attacked the guard ( ABF interview, August 28, 2006). None of the available information made it clear whether Mr. Amini was charged with any particular crime or not.
According to the available information, during his detention at one occasion, when Mr. Amini was saying his prayers, one of the prison guards imitating sexual acts with another male inmate told him: “this is the prayers, not the thing that you do!” Mr. Amini got irritated and attacked and injured the guard. Afterwards, the guards of prisons beat him up severely. Mr. Amini`s father paid Diah (a kind of monetary compensation in cases of corporal injuries) after hearing that his son`s life was at stake in the prison (ABF interview, August 28, 2006). He was released thereafter. None of the available information made it clear whether Mr. Amini was charged with any particular crimes or not.
Mr. Amini was in a very bad physical state due to the beatings he was subjected to. His entire body was covered with bruises and injuries (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
According to a person close to Mr. Amini, his death was not caused by his assault at the police officers but on the day of the incident, Mr. Amini was walking in the street. Two police officers stopped him. One of them approached him from behind and the other blocked his way. A passenger asked them about their behavior and they said: “He has a personal issue with the Captain, which should be settled.” The said passenger walked away and heard a gunshot. This passenger and the shop-keepers who were at the scene stated that one of the officers shot him in the heart from the side. Mr. Amini went down on his knees. Then he shot him again from behind. They escaped from the scene, keeping away the passengers by shooting into the air. The passengers took him to the hospital but he passed away (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
The Aminis brought a law suit to the Police Prosecution Office. At first, the case was pending because there was no lawyer assigned to it. The case was closed initially but with the family’s follow up, the case was reactivated. Until the day of the interview Sheyda Amini on August 28, 2006, the family was summoned to the court for several times but there were certain impediments in this case, for example, the witnesses did not accept to give their testimonies out of fear because they claimed that they were summoned and interrogated for several times during the procedure of the case. In addition, the victims’ lawyers were not allowed to see the case several months after submitting the law suit with the excuse that the case is related to national security. The case was in possession of the defendants. Until the date of the interview, on August 28, 2006 none of the defendants were summoned to the court (ABF interview, August 28, 2006).
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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.
 read...
 close... Extrajudicial killings and the Islamic Republic: A decades-long pattern
Read more about the pattern of extrajudicial killings ordered by the Islamic Republic authorities.
Since the inception of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights, have blamed the Islamic regime for the extrajudicial killing of its opponents, both within and outside of its borders. Although over two hundred cases have been reported, the exact number of victims remains unknown.
Extrajudicial executions carried out in Iran are rarely investigated; the few cases that have been investigated have indicated that the Iranian state security apparatus has been involved. Agents of the Islamic Republic have also targeted dissidents outside the country, assassinating opposition members in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Western Europe; and across the Atlantic in the United States,.
In many of these cases local authorities have made no arrests. However, investigations, when they have taken place and been made public, have led to the single hypothesis of State ordered crimes. The organization and execution of these crimes constitute a pattern that Swiss prosecutor Roland Chatelain describes as “common parameters” following a “meticulous preparation.” Similarities between different cases in different countries have created a coherent set of presumptions designating the Islamic Republic as the instigator of these assassinations. In cases involving prominent Iranians assassinated in France, Germany, and Switzerland, local prosecutors have provided evidence linking Iranian authorities to the crimes in question. In France, for example, the Iranian Deputy Minister of Telecommunications has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1991 murder of two dissidents. In Germany, agents of Iran's secret services and Lebanese Hezbollah have been convicted for the 1992 murder of four dissidents in Berlin. Currently, the Islamic Republic's Minister of Information and Security at the time of this murder is under an International arrest Warrant launched by German judicial authorities for his involvement. Furthermore, the German court found that Iran's political leadership ordered the murder through a "Committee for Special Operations," whose members reportedly include the Leader of the Islamic Republic, the President, the Minister of Information and Security, and other security officials.
The Islamic Republic’s officials have claimed responsibility for some of these assassinations while denying involvement in others. In the 1980s, Iranian authorities justified extrajudicial executions of dissidents and members of the former regime and actively worked for the release of Iranians and non-Iranian agents who were detained or convicted in the West for their involvement in those killings. During the 1990s, they systematically denied any involvement in extrajudicial killings and often credited the killings to infighting amongst the opposition. Still, the rationale supporting these killings was articulated as early as in the spring of 1979 when the First Revolutionary religious judge publicly announced the regime's intention to carry out extrajudicial executions. He said: “no state has the right to try as a terrorist the person who kills [exiles] in foreign lands, for this person is implementing the verdict issued by the Islamic Revolutionary tribunal.” More than a decade later, in August, 1992, the Minister of Intelligence and Security publicly boasted about the success of Iran's security forces, alluding to the elimination of dissidents: "We have been able to deal blows to many of the mini-groups outside the country and on the borders...."
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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 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.
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The right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
UDHR, Article 20; ICCPR, Article 21.
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 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.
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
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