Court Order of Saleh Shariati, Sentenced to Death by Qassameh
Fars Province Judiciary
Fars Province Criminal Court One, Branch Three (formerly Province Court Branch Two)
Court Decision
Court Decision Number: 9409977120900478
Date of Drafting: March 14, 2016
Case Number: 9109987733300240
Branch Archive Number 920122
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In the Name of God
Adjudicating Authority: Fars Province Criminal Court One, Branch Three
Judges: Mohammad Farsi, Advising member; Mohammad Shabani and Seyyed Emad Mussavi, Member Judges of the Court
Plaintiffs: Mr. Ali and Ms. Mahnaz Bahramian, Rassul Bahramian’s children and next of kin, represented by Mr. Mohammad Amin Jokar, child of Allahkaram, whose address is [town of] Fassa, Imam Khomeini Street, before Police Square, Alborz Buiilding, Second Floor;
Defendant: Mr. Saleh (Farzad) Shariati, child of Mohammad Ala, currently incarcerated at Adelabad Prison, represented by Mr. Abdolrassul Jahankhah, child of Ghazanfar, whose address is [city of] Shiraz, Zand Street, Rudaki Street, Reza Building, Ground Floor, Law Office.
Charge: Intentional Murder.
Case Status: Fars Province Criminal Court One, Branch Three, is in session on the aforementioned date and at the predetermined time, presided by the undersigned and in the presence of the Prosecutor’s Representative. Shiraz General and Revolutionary Court Prosecutor’s Representative states: “I ask [the court] for a suitable decision.” After considering the content of the case file, the Court hereby adjourns and, seeking God’s help and relying on [the judges’] honor and conscience, rules as follows.
Court Ruling
Regarding the charge against Mr. Saleh Shariati, child of Mohammad Ali, known as Farzad, currently 20 years old (born in 1996-97), single, Iranian national, laborer, National Code Number 6540069286, from [the town of] Darab’s Zarrindasht, rpresented by Mr. Abdolrassul Jahankhah, of being the principal in the intentional murder of the late Rassul Bahramian on April 11, 2012, in the town of Assaluyeh, Bushehr Province, [the facts are] as follows:
The late Rassul Bahramian had gone to the above-mentioned town with his mother to work on a tomato farm. At the end of the workday, late afternoon [early evening], he went back to the place where he rested. It seems that he intended to wash his hair and had gone on the wooden board over the well to get rid of the blockage in the pipe that was causing the low water pressure, whereupon he was pushed into the well by the Defendant. His head hit the stones in the well, causing severe breakage of the cranium, and he eventually died, was murdered, because of severe internal bleeding following blunt force trauma, or vice versa, and the effects thereof.
Given: 1. the next of kin’s complaint and insistence upon the commission of murder by the Defendant; 2. the existence of a dispute between the Defendant and the murder victim due to the victim having relations with a girl with whom the Defendant was in love; 3. the Medical Examiner’s report certifying the Defendant’s maturity and mental development at the time of the commission of the crime attributed to him; 4. The establishment [of the fact of] the Defendant’s presence by the murder victim’s side by the well where the murder occurred at the time of the event; 5. Mrs. Fatemeh Shariati’s statements as the sole eyewitness to the event; 6. the Defendant’s express confession to the victim’s murder (page 189 [of the case file]) to law enforcement officers and to the town of Fassa General Prosecytor’s Office’s Investigating Judge (pages 194 and 195); 7. the statements of the murder victim’s friends testifying to the victim having said, prior to leaving to work, that “I was in a scuffle with a bunch of people there and even my life is in danger”;
and considering that all other available evidence constitute reasons for the Court to have a strong suspicion [that the Defendant has committed the murder], ultimately leading to “Lowth” [which, in Shi’a Fiqh (religious law) means that in spite of insufficient evidence, the judge has a strong suspicion that the Defendant committed the murder, leading the judge to perform “Qassameh”], following which, the next of kin, in accordance with the rules pertaining to Qassameh [the procedure whereby at least 50 people swear before the judge to the Defendant’s guilt], made 57 of their relatives to be present in court and swear to Allah Almighty as to their certainty of the Defendant having murdered the late Rassul Bahramian.
The Court, therefore, subsequent to the administration of the procedure of Qassameh, finds that the Defendant is guilty of having committed the intentional murder of Rassul Bahramian, and, citing Islamic Penal Code of 2013, Articles 160, 312, 313, 314, 317, 336, 337, 381, and 417, sentences Mr. Saleh Shariati to Qesas of life, as requested by the next of kin, to death by hanging.
The ruling was issued in the [Defendant and his attorney’s] presence and can be appealed to the Supreme Court within 20 days of service.
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Address: Fars Province, Shiraz, Allah (Gol-e Sorkh), Beginning of Shahid Shirudi Boulevard