Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Omid, a memorial in defense of human rights in Iran
One Person’s Story

Sharareh Elyasi

About

Age: 22
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: November 13, 2018
Location of Killing: Central Prison, Sanandaj, Kordestan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Murder
Age at time of alleged offense: 27

About this Case

was warm, kind, and fashionable

News of the execution of Ms. Sharareh Elyasi, child of Zahed, was provided to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center on November 19, 2018, through one of her acquaintances. Furthermore, news of her execution was published on the Iran Human Rights Organization’s website (November 13, 2018), the Hengaw website (November 13, 2018), and the Kordpa website (November 13, 2018). Additional information about this case was obtained through a Boroumand Center interview with another one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019, the “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website (November 22, 2018), and the Rozaneh website(November 13, 2018).

Ms. Elyasi was 27 years old, married, with one child, and came from the village of Bissaran in Sarvabad County in Kurdistan Province. (Hengaw; Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website). A person who knew Ms. Elyasi described her as a beautiful, cheerful, warm, kind, and fashion conscious individual. She established good relations with the people around her. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019).

Ms. Elyasi had gotten married at the age of 16 due to her family’s financial situation. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website).

Arrest and detention

According to available information, Ms. Elyasi was arrested on August 11, 2014, in [the city of] Sanandaj and spent four and a half years in detention in the city’s central prison. Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website). She only had occasion to visit with her child early in her detention. Thereafter, her husband prevented the visitations. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019). She dealt with a lot of psychological pressure during her detention. (Kordpa).

In prison, Ms. Elyasi was the ward representative. She made ends meet by working in the prison kitchen and by distributing food and medicine between the prisoners since she did not receive any financial support from her family and her husband. She had an excellent morale and used to sing every now and then. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019).

Trial

Sanandaj Islamic Revolutionary Court tried Ms. Elyasi.

No further information is available about the details of Ms. Elyasi’s trial session(s).

According to available information, Ms. Elyasi could not afford to hire a lawyer due to her financial situation. There is no information about whether she had a court appointed attorney at trial or not.

Charges

Ms. Elyasi was charged with “intentional murder”.

According to a person who knew Ms. Elyasi, she intended to get a divorce from her spouse because she was in love with another man, but her family and husband opposed it. Ms. Elyasi’s spouse found out about her feelings for that man and invited him to their home. He killed him while his wife was putting things in order in the kitchen. According to this person who has knowledge of the case, Ms. Elyasi took on the murder because her husband had asked her to. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; Kordpa).

According to Rozaneh website, however, Ms. Elyasi’s husband had killed the victim claiming that he had harassed his sister. According to this information, Ms. Elyasi’s husband used the little legal knowledge Ms. Elyasi had, and convinced her to accept the murder. Ms. Elyasi thought that she would not be given the death penalty because she was a woman. (Rozaneh).

Ms. Elyasi’s other acquaintance believed the murder to be related to the victim’s harassment of Ms. Elyasi, and thereby causing the commission of murder by her husband. According to this information, Ms. Elyasi was only a witness to the murder and had played no role in its commission. Ms. Elyasi was hoping her husband would eventually lay the groundwork for her release. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019).

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 authorities have brought trumped-up charges, including drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences, against their opponents (including political, civil society activists, as well as unionists and ethnic and religious minorities). 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 and executed based on trumped-up charges is unknown.

Evidence of guilt

There is no sign of any evidence in this case.

According to a person acquainted with Ms. Elyasi, she and her husband were arrested based on a report by a local person. That person had not, however, witnessed the commission of the murder. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019).

Defense

Ms. Elyasi could not afford to hire an attorney due to her financial situation. She also felt that the footage her husband had taken at the time of the murder victim’s presence in their home while she was hosting would be used against her; she therefore thought that defending herself would serve no purpose. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website).

Ms. Elyasi’s family believed that her husband had committed the murder and that she had played no role in it. (Hengaw).

The victim’s mother had stated during one of Ms. Elyasi’s trial sessions that she would forgive her if she told the name of the real killer. Other members of the victim’s family did not believe until the very end that she was the murderer, and they would have withdrawn their complaint had she mentioned the killer’s name. Ms. Elyasi refused to name his spouse as the murderer until the end, for the sake of her young child. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website).

According to the person acquainted with Ms. Elyasi, she had denied having committed murder toward the end of her incarceration. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019).

There is no information regarding Ms. Elyasi’s defense in court.

Judgment

Sanandaj Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced Ms. Elyasi to death and the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court. Ms. Sharareh Elyasi was hanged on November 13, 2018, in Sanandaj Central Prison.

Ms. Elyasi refused to name his spouse as the murderer until the end, for the sake of her young child

Up until her sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court, Ms. Elyasi had been hopeful that the ruling would be overturned. Thereafter, she tried to keep her spirits up in spite of tremendous psychological pressure. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on April 4, 2019). Civil activists’ efforts to convince the victim’s family to forgive her bore no fruit. (Iran Human Rights Organization).

The murder victim’s father did not attend the hanging and asked his son to forgive Ms. Elyasi if she named the real killer. (Boroumand Center interview with one of Ms. Elyasi’s acquaintances on November 19, 2018; “A Look at Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran” website).

Ms. Elyasi’s body has not been turned over to her family as of this writing.

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