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

Mohammad Naqi Ezzabadi

About

Age: 22
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam
Civil Status: Single

Case

Date of Killing: September 30, 1981
Location of Killing: Bojnurd, Khorasan\Khorasan-e Razavi Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Sympathizing with anti-regime guerilla groups; Printing/distributing leaflets; Counter revolutionary opinion and/or speech

About this Case

The information about Mr. Mohammad Naqi Ezzabadi has been drawn from interview by a person close to him, the report of the Kayhan newspaper referring to the communiqué of the public relations unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office (Oct. 3, 1981) and the Khorasan newspaper (Oct. 4). Mr. Ezzabadi is one of the 12028 individuals listed in an addendum to the Mojahed magazine (No 261), published by Mojahedin Khalq Organization in 1985. The list includes individuals, affiliated with various opposition groups, who were executed or killed during clashes with the Islamic Republic security forces from June 1981 to the publication date of the magazine.

Mr. Ezzabadi was born in Nojnurd in 1959. He was a high school graduate and a sympathizer of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization. At the time of the Revolution, he was serving his compulsory military service in the navy. After the Revolution, he distributed the publications of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization in the city. He was arrested in 1980 in a street demonstration and was detained at Qezelhesar and Qasr prisons for 9 months. About one month after he was released from prison, he went to Nojnurd in June or July of 1981. Once Revolutionary Guards raided his home but he managed to escape.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Ezzabadi was arrested in July or August of 1981 in his home in Nojnurd for sympathizing with the Mojahedin Khalq Organization without an arrest warrant. He was taken to a hotel, which had been confiscated and was used as the detention center of the Revolutionary Guards. According to the interviewee, “the Revolutionary Guardsmen raided the house and when the victim’s father asked, they said that they only wanted ask him a few questions and that he would soon return home.” Mr. Ezzabadi was in prison for 40 days. The night before his execution, he called his parents from prison and they went to the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards. The head of the Guards told his father: “We know he has not done anything but he refuses to do what we want him to do.” That night in a visit, Mr. Ezzabadi told his father: “They want me to do things that you would also refuse,” referring to recanting his political beliefs, introducing political colleagues to the Guards, and shooting coup de grace at persons who were to be executed. His father, who was a prominent person in the city, approved his son’s actions and left the location in a fury.

Trial

No information is available on the defendant’s trial, except than Mr. Ezzabali was tried at the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Nojnurd.

Charges

According to the Kayhan newspaper, Mr. Ezzabadi was charged with: “Organizing the Hypocrites [referring to the Mojahedin Khalq Organization], being in charge of operational teams, distributing the leaflets of the Hypocrites, approving their stance and their armed struggle. Moreover, the named individual had been condemned to imprisonment, during which he caused an arson in Mashad prison, and resumed activities against the regime of the Islamic republic after being released.” According to the interviewee, a newspaper announced his charged to be “apostasy.”

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

The report of this execution does not contain information regarding the evidence provided against the defendant.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Ezzabadi’s defense at the trial. According to the available information, he was denied access to his file and the right to be represented by an attorney. The interviewee states that the charge of causing an arson in Mashad prison was completely baseless.

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Nojnurd called Mr. Mohammad Naqi Ezzabadi “an enemy of God and his Prophet and a rebel against the Islamic regime” and condemned him to death. He was shot by firing squad on September 30, 1981 (Kayhan). He was 22 years old. His cousin, who was a doctor, saw four bodies at the morgue, one of whom was Mohammad Naqi. The Revolutionary Guards told his family members that they could not inter his body in the public cemetery and could not hold any memorial ceremonies. They were told to bury him in the mountains. His family transferred the body to Mashad and laid him to rest in Mashad’s cemetery. His mother still has his blood-stained shirt.

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