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

Amir Hosein Rabi'i

About

Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: April 9, 1979
Location of Killing: Qasr Prison, Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Corruption on earth; Treason

About this Case

Lt. General Hossein Rabii 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.

International human rights organizations have drawn attention to reports indicating that the Islamic Republic’s authorities have executed individuals on trumped up charges such as drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences. The exact number of people convicted based on trumped-up charges is unknown.

Arrest and detention

No information regarding the defendant's arrest and detention is available.

Trial

Amnesty International's report on this execution contains no information regarding the defendant's identity or trial.

Charges

ُThe charges against Lt. General Rabii, as listed by Amnesty International, are: corruption on earth; war on God and the people of God; actions designed to weaken the country's independence and security; shaking the foundations of the country's system of government; participating directly in the murder of innocent people and trying to put down the people's uprising; defiling all that is sacred, whether religious or national, to the Muslim people of Iran and the world; dismissing air force officers and having them killed in an attempt to attempt to oppose the people's desire for rule; insulting the pure clergy and trying to discredit them by calling them Communists; trying to influence the opinions of soldiers and homafars [air force personnel â Amnesty International note] and thereby lead them astray from the true path; trying to hinder the air force in its desire to join forces with the people; subjecting the army, the politics, economy and culture of the country to the influence of foreigners and imperialism; trying to re-establish the Shah's idolatrous rule over the weak and defenceless people; conspiracy, incitement and attempting to obstruct the path of God to deprive the people of their true desire. Source: Ettela'at (Tehran) 11 April 1979. Part two of Lt. General Rabi'i's indictment (a brief description of the evidence) was reported by local correspondents on 11 April to have read as follows: (4) “ The arrest of dissident air force personnel, the eviction of some of them from their homes (provided by the air force), according to the testimony of Generals Hashem Berenjian and Sepahbod Kamyabipour, preventing the revolutionary flight (of Ayatollah Khomeini) according to his own confession as recorded in his file, and trying to prevent the Ayatollah's return, making facilities available to General Gholam Ali Oveissi to enable him to flee the country in an air force plane; giving permission to the commander of the national guard to station tanks at the Dowshan Tappeh base, which were used in the killings of February 9; being present at the meeting of army commanders with former Premier Shahpour Bakhtiar, where the plan for the attack on Dowshan Tappeh was drawn up, though this plan subsequently turned against them; being in contact with the CIA through the former US ambassador, Richard Helms, implementing American advisors' schemes to plunder the country's resources, as established in the confessions of Hasratollah Shoayan and (Savak chief) Nasser Moghaddam, and on his own confession, causing irreparable loss to the national wealth by employing people who had been dismissed for embezzlement and corruption and even giving them promotion as established in the confession of Shoayan, providing the means of transport to and from South Africa for one of the oppressors of that country, according to his own confession, and having gone to Israel and had talks on political problems with Israeli leaders.” Notes on the Above indictments (p. 77) (i)The indictments often charge offences which are capable of an extremely broad interpretation. (ii) The method of drafting the indictment may involve reference to Islamic concepts such as “corruption on earth” without citation of any other specific legal provision such as serves to show a prohibition of the alleged act at the time it took place. However, in cases where the act complained of is a specific Islamic offence, e.g adultery, no other specific citation would be necessary. This is subject to caveat that many of the acts alleged to have been committed e.g. Those relating to mere participation in the Shah's government, were not unlawful under the secular laws in force in Iran at the time they were committed. This caveat would not apply to charges of torture and murder, for example, as they were always illegal, but the Savak perpetrators of those crimes were not prosecuted at the time. Retroactive laws (p. 79) In seeking to purge Iran of those concerned with the past regime the courts have imposed duties which were not obligations under Iranian law during the period when the actions in question were undertaken. In the terms of some period when the actions in question were undertaken. In the term of some secular lawyers therefore, such charges are being brought on the basis of retroactive legislation. Such a defence would meet with no success in the Revolutionary Court.... Article 83 of the General Penal Code provided that any Minister, Member of Parliament, armed forces personnel or civil servant who wrongfully deprived individuals of their rights under law, or of their personal freedom, would be dismissed from his post and would lose his civil rights for a period between five and ten years. The revolutionary Court does not use arguments based on this law and, in any event, punishment in such cases is much more severe than provided for in the Penal Code. Article 84 of the Code provided that if the above actions were done under the compulsion of superior orders the person who gave the order would undergo the punishment and the person who carried them out would be exempt. The Revolutionary Courts do not often use this concept and many soldiers have been executed or imprisoned for taking part in massacres whilst under the orders of their commanding officers. Article 82 of the Code provided that Ministers, Members of Parliament, military personnel and civil servants who “rise against the national government”, or who order such a rising would on conviction mandatorily be executed. This does not really apply in these cases as the “government” in question was that of the Shah.

The validity of the 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 Lt. General Hossein Rabii.

Defense

No information is available regarding the defense of the accused.

Judgment

The defendant was sentenced to death and executed 8 April 1979.

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