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

Mansur Zamani

About

Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: March 5, 1979
Location of Killing: Qasr Prison, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Corruption on earth; Torture

About this Case

Colonel Mansur Zamani is among the seven men, whose execution was reported by the Pars News Agency on March 5, 1979, and published in the Ettela’at newspaper the following day. He is also 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.

Moreover, Colonel Mansur Zamani is one of 55 persons mentioned in the Memoirs of Ayatollah Khalkhali, the first post-revolution religious judge and head of the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal. In his book, he writes:

“I began to try the convicts soon after my nomination… All the people who were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunals were the best examples of a ‘corruptor on earth’ and they were executed as such…

“A corruptor on earth is a person who contributes to spreading and expanding corruption on earth. Corruption is what leads to the decline, destruction, and the deviation of society from its natural course. The executed persons had participated in the spread of corruption and prostitution, distribution of heroin and opium, and promotion of licentious behavior, godlessness, murder, treason, flattery, and in sum, they possessed all vile attributes. These people’s problems were aggravated by the fact that they did not repent, even after they witnessed the people’s revolution.

“I believed, and still believe, that all the parliamentarians and senators, all governors, heads of SAVAK [National Intelligence and Security Organization] and police officers, who held office after 1963, and after Emam [Khomeini] ordered the boycott [of parliamentary election], should be executed… High-ranking officials in the ministries, who were instrumental in the survival of the apparatus [Shah’s regime] and who would accept any humiliation to get close to the Shah and his family, are all condemned [to execution]…

“In sum, all the people whom I condemned to death and who were executed in the early days of the establishment of the Revolutionary Tribunals and in Qasr prison, were corruptors on earth. Based on the Quran, their life was a waste… Not one of them could be acquitted according to the Quran.”

Arrest and detention

No information is available on the defendant’s arrest and detention.

Trial

Based on the report, the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Iran was in session for 9 hours, deliberating seven cases, including Colonel Zamani’s. The specific circumstances of the trial remain unknown.

Charges

Personal charges brought against Colonel Zamani were not announced. The seven co-defendants were collectively charged with “participation in murder and massacre of innocent people.”

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

No information is available on the evidence presented against Colonel Zamani.

Defense

No information is available regarding Colonel Zamani’s defense.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Iran declared Colonel Zamani a “corruptor on earth.” The Tribunal reached its verdict at 5 in the morning on March 5, 1979, and Colonel Mansur Zamani was shot by firing squad immediately.

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