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

Javad Ganji Khanlu

About

Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: June 10, 1992
Location of Killing: Mashhad, Khorasan\Khorasan-e Razavi Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Unspecified execution method
Charges: Unspecified offense

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Javad Ganji Khanlu, along with three other individuals, was reported by the Kayhan newspaper on June 10, 1992. Information regarding the execution of Mr. Ganji Khanlu was also published in a report by the Special Representative of the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights published on January 28, 1993. The report is entitled Final Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, pursuant to Commission resolution 1992/67 of 4 March 1992 (E/CN.4/1993/41). The report contains a letter from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations dated November 24, 1992 regarding the execution of Mr. Ganji Khanlu and the other three individuals.

The executions of Mashhad, and the May shantytown rioting that led to it, were also reported by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International (June 15, 1992) and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (The Justice System of the Islamic Republic, May 1993). The Christian Science Monitor of June 2, 1992 described the rioting based on an Associated Press report. Additional information was provided to the Boroumand Foundation by a person who resided in Mashhad in 1992.

In the spring of 1992, demonstrators in several Iranian cities including Shiraz, Arak, and Mashhad, protested following incidents opposing authorities by angry residents. These protests, during which several people were killed, led to hundreds of arrests and the execution of at least 8 demonstrators.

The May 30 Mashhad rioting, announced by Tehran Radio, was sparked by the municipal authorities’ attempts to destroy illegally-constructed dwellings and forcibly evict their inhabitants. According to the Associated Press, the government had “sent bulldozers to raze squatters’ dwellings that house[d] tens of thousands of workers who worked in nearby factories”. Angry shantytown residents demonstrated in the city, setting fire to and destroying government buildings. A resident of Mashhad remembers a neighbor who returned to their neighborhood running away from the scene of the riots where security forces were shooting at the crowd.

The UN Special Rapporteur referred to a report according to which: “On 30 May 1992, during incidents and demonstrations at Mashhad, Khorasan Province, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of the Pasdaran and other security forces responded with excessive force and opened fire indiscriminately on demonstrators”. Amnesty International also stated that several people were reportedly killed during the rioting and 300 hundred were arrested.

Less than two weeks after the Mashhad riots, Amnesty International reported that 4 individuals, arrested in connection with the May 30th riots, were sentenced to death and executed. The report, which was based on a June 10 announcement by Tehran radio, stated that a number of people had been sentenced to long-term imprisonment and flogging while others awaited trial. Amnesty also mentioned unconfirmed reports indicating that the true number of executions may have been considerably higher.

Public statements by Iranian judicial and religious authorities following these events indicate a deliberate use of lethal force to control demonstrators. On June 25, the semi-official Newspaper Kayhan quoted the recommendations to the military forces by a high ranking cleric, Hojatoleslam Ha’eri, the Friday Prayer Leader in Shiraz: “You must not be patient with the enemies, you must shoot them immediately. ... Islamic verdicts are clear; there is no need for trials and investigations. I told the Prosecutor the same night, after the incident, that it is better to execute a few of them immediately, in different areas of the city, than to execute ten of them tomorrow” (Lawyers Committee report). The official news agency IRNA reported the orders of the higher authority: “Seek out troublemakers and destroy them like weeds” (Lawyers Committee report). Amnesty International refers to a statement of the Head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, (quoted by Reuters on 1 June 1992) announcing an extraordinary procedure so that “swift and decisive justice would be meted out to rioters...” in Mashhad.

Human rights organizations condemned the Iranian government’s heavy-handed treatment of the protesters and its disregard for internationally recognized standards of fairness in the judicial process that led to the execution of Mr. Javad Ganji Khanlu and others ten days after the riots. The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights noted that: “Independent citizens feel concerned because they are unable to foresee the reactions of the authorities to situations of tension or public disturbance. The recent case of the demonstrations in Mashad, Shiraz and other cities has been eloquent in this respect. What began as a municipal incident blew up into a major event because the authorities were not prepared to restore order through the use of non-lethal instruments”.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Javad Ganji Khanlu was arrested in Mashhad on May 30, 1992, along with three others, in connection with the riots there.

Trial

According to a letter from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations dated November 24, 1992, Mr. Ganji Khanlu and three others were tried in Khorasan Province, where the court proceedings lasted a month. The letter does not provide any other information regarding the trial.

Charges

According to the Kayhan newspaper report, Mr. Javad Ganji Khanlu was charged with “having 15 previous convictions including wielding a knife, theft and drugs, having spent time in prison, being a thug, participating in the recent riots in the city of Mashhad, burning governmental files, and looting public property.”

In its November 24 letter to the UN, the Iranian government accused Mr. Ganji Khanlu of having a record of prior convictions. The letter also charged him with “murder, looting, and assault”. However, it provided no specific information on the date, victims, or circumstances of the alleged murder.

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’s authorities have brought trumped-up charges against their political opponents and executed them for drug trafficking, sexual, and other criminal offences. 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 based on trumped-up charges is unknown.

Evidence of guilt

The letter from the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations dated November 24, 1992 states that Mr. Ganji Khanlu and three others confessed to murder, looting, and assault.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its systematic use of severe torture and solitary confinement to obtain confessions from detainees and have questioned the authenticity of confessions obtained under duress. Human rights organizations have also pointed to the pattern of retracted confessions by those prisoners who are freed.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Ganji Khanlu’s defense.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Mashhad sentenced Mr. Ganji Khanlu to death. The sentence was approved by a delegation of ad hoc judges dispatched by the Head of the Judiciary to ensure the swift trial of those arrested in the rioting. The sentence was carried out on June 10, 1992. The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations confirmed the speedy nature of the proceedings: “Because of public demand for immediate punishment [of the accused], a Special Delegation was dispatched to Khorasan Province by the Supreme Judicial Council to supervise court proceedings; consequently the verdict for their execution was confirmed by the High Authorities and carried out accordingly.”

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* Messers: Gholamhossein Purshirzad, Hamid Javid, Ali Sadeqi

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