Iran Newspaper
July 4, 2002
Incidents Page
Sentence Against 241 Participants in January Night Party Confirmed
Incidents Group: the judicial verdict to punish the participants in the A. S. P. Tehran night party is being implemented with the confirmation from the appeals court judges.
Some of these criminals are being punished while the trial of another number of participants in the night party remains to be held at the Ershad judicial complex.
According to this report; On the evening of Sunday, December 31, 2000, a number of men and women, most of whom were young girls, unaware that they were being observed by officers of the headquarters combatting special crime, entered one of the upscale buildings of A. S. P. in northwest Tehran to participate in a rich man's January night party.
Hours hadn’t even passed after the party started when the special headquarters put a strike operation on the agenda, and a team of officers attacked the rich man's 120-meter apartment, which was located on the middle floors of the building.
When the police entered the venue of the night party, in a dark space and under the lights of the apartment, they saw women, men, girls and boys who were dancing in a mixed manner with bad covering and unnatural posture.
After this widespread arrest, it became clear that a rich man named "Ali Akbar" organized this party under the pretext of celebrating the birthday of his student son named "Ali" and among the invitees were four well-known faces of television actors and three high-ranking embassy officials were there; on January 6, 2001, the Tehran Province Judiciary issued an announcement.
In this statement announcing the formation of a "special headquarters to combat special crimes" in order to deal with the spread of some vulgar cultural manifestations and corruption in the capital, it was stated: "In this party, 241 men and women, mostly young boys and girls, were arrested; 135 of them were girls and 106 were men, some of the invited people did not know the organizer of the gathering.
Among those arrested, there were a number of capitalists from foreign countries, two attaches of one of the embassies in Tehran, two European women and a number of convicts with a record of moral crimes. According to the investigation carried out, this place was used by the owner and his two sons as a bachelor pad and a place for doing immoral things, and the accused's main residence was located in another part of the aforementioned residential complex.”
As the police continued their work, in the expert investigations, it was found that a large number of girls participating in this party were under 18 years of age, their families filed a complaint about the neglect of their children by the landlord and his relatives, and on the other hand, a number of pimps, who brought underage girls to the night party as a group, were also identified. During the investigation, the officers of the special headquarters found that a number of boys and girls participated in the party without knowing that it was a mixed party, so that among those arrested, a number of husbands and wives or siblings were seen. With the completion of police investigations, the A.S.P. night party case of A. S. P. was sent to one of the branches of the Ershad Judicial Complex for investigation, and after the trial of all the accused, the judge sentenced most of the participants to flogging and payment of a fine instead of imprisonment, while the organizers of the party were sentenced to imprisonment, flogging, payment of fines, and exile.
With the protest of the main defendants of the case against the issued verdict, the case was examined in Branch 9 of the Tehran Province Appeals Court and the issued verdict was confirmed and the final verdict communicated to the defendants. Judge Heidari, chief of the appeals court’s Branch 9, stated in this verdict: After examining this case; the 4 years and 4 months of imprisonment of "Ali Akbar" for the charges of organizing a gathering of lewdness and lasciviousness and providing the means for corruption and prostitution will be reduced to three years of imprisonment, accompanied by 6 months of exile to one of the cities, and the decision of the trial court regarding the other charge of using and maintaining a satellite dish, for which he was sentenced to a 6 million Rial fine and 20 lashes, is confirmed.
The appeals court judgement also states: "Ali" - the son of the first-row accused – who was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment on the charge of participating in providing the means for corruption and prostitution, his sentence is confirmed and will be implemented.”
These provisions are being implemented after the announcement of the opinion of Judge Heidari, chief of Branch 9 of the Tehran Appeals Court, and the punishment of two famous television actresses who were sentenced to a one-year ban from acting, flogging and payment of fines has also been implemented. The sentence against two other actresses to flogging and payment of fines was implemented.
According to the report of our crime correspondent, the A.S.P. night party case, despite reaching the final stages, is still open and under investigation for some defendants.
ABF Note
Findings of guilt in the Islamic Republic of Iran's Judicial Proceedings
The Islamic Republic of Iran's criminal justice system regularly falls short of the standards for due process necessary for impartiality, fairness, and efficacy. Suspects are often held incommunicado and not told of the reason for their detainment. Defendants are frequently prohibited from examining the evidence used against them. Defendants are sometimes prohibited from having their lawyers present in court. Additionally, confessions, made under duress or torture, are commonly admitted as proof of guilt. Because Iran's courts regularly disregard principles essential to the proper administration of justice, findings of guilt may not be evaluated with certainty.
Corporal Punishment: the Legal context in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Islamic Republic's criminal code recognizes corporal punishment for a wide range of offenses: consumption of alcohol, theft, adultery, "flouting" of public morals, and mixing of the sexes in public. Judges have the latitude to mete out corporal punishment for those sentenced to death. In such cases, the flogging is carried out before death to maximize the suffering of defendant. Aside from flogging, the Islamic Republic also employs amputations as a punishment for theft. In such cases, the defendant is taken to a hospital and put under anesthesia as his hand or foot is amputated. In some cases the left foot and right hand are cut off, making it difficult for the condemned to walk, even with the assistance of a cane or crutches.
The Islamic Republic's Systematic Violation of its International Obligations under International Law
The use of corporal punishment is contrary to international law and is addressed in several international agreements. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Iran has ratified, states that, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Identical language is also used in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran is also a party to. The strongest expression of international disapproval is contained in the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). This treaty defines torture as, "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as ... punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed." Although the Islamic Republic of Iran has yet to sign the CAT, the prohibition on torture is now considered jus cogens and, therefore, part of customary international law. Furthermore, even though the norm against corporal punishment is not yet a jus cogens, there is increasing evidence that it is illegal under international human rights law.[1] In Osbourne v. Jamaica, the Committee Against Torture (a body of experts responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention) held that "corporal punishment constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment contrary to Article 7 of the Convention." The Islamic Republic of Iran's systematic violations of its obligations under international law have been addressed by the UN General Assembly multiple times, most recently in December 2007. In Resolution 62/168, the UN expressed deep concern with Iran's continued flouting of international human rights law, particularly, "confirmed instances of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging and amputations."
