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 Taqi Sediqi Tonkaboni

About

Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Unknown

Case

Date of Killing: February 18, 1980
Location of Killing: Sari, Mazandaran Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Shooting
Charges: Murder of persons and/or killing Muslims or/and freedom fighters

About this Case

The execution of Major Mohammad Taqi Sediqi Tonkaboni and another individual was reported in the Ettela’at daily (February 19, 1980). Additional information has been sent to Omid via an electronic form by an individual familiar with this case. The sender of this form remembers Major Sediqi Tonkaboni was as “an exemplary pious and liberated individual.” He taught at the Police Academy and had been transferred to Mazandaran province about a year prior to his arrest.

Arrest and detention

The circumstances of this defendant’s arrest and detention are not known.

Trial

There is no information regarding this trial other than Major Sediqi Tonkaboni was tried at the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Sari (Mazandaran province).

Charges

According to the report, the defendant was charged with “murder and suppression of demonstrators as well as acting towards strengthening the foundations of the detested former regime and preventing the spread of the Iranian nation’s Islamic Revolution.” The report provides no other information regarding these charges.

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

No information is available concerning the evidence presented against the accused.

Defense

No information is available concerning Major Sediqi Tonkaboni’s defense.

Judgment

According to the electronic form, the court condemned Major Mohammad Taqi Tonkaboni to one year imprisonment, which he served in Sari prison. When the religious judge, Ayatollah Sadeq Khalkhali was on a trip to prosecute ethnic Torkamans, he spent a night in Sari, during which he visited the Sari prison. There, he re-tried Major Sediqi Tonkaboni and condemned him to death. Based on the newspaper report, the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Sari declared Major Sediqi Tonkaboni a “corruptor on earth” and “at war with God and His Prophet.” This Tribunal may refer to the same re-trial by Aatollah Khalkhali. He personally shot Major Sediqi Tonkaboni with his own hand-gun (electronic form).

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