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

Hamzeh Qaderi

About

Age: 33
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Islam (Sunni)
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: October 7, 2002
Location of Killing: Central Prison (Darya), Orumieh, Azarbaijan-e Gharbi Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: War on God; Membership of anti-regime guerilla group; Acting against state's security

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Hamzeh Qaderi, son of Hossein, was published by various sources including the Society to Defend Human Rights in Iran on October 12, 2002 and the website of Asrema, quoting the Committee of United Action for Democracy on February 22, 2003.  Additional information was taken from an interview by the Boroumand Foundation with a person close to Mr. Qaderi and a correspondence sent by the representative of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran to the European Union.

According to the existing information, Mr. Qaderi was born in Sardasht. He was married, with a daughter only five months old when he was arrested. Mr. Qaderi was a high school graduate and an employee in the Sardasht Health Office. He was a member of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. According to those who knew him, Mr. Qaderi had a sociable and democratic personality. He always helped poor people around him. He was the oldest son and the head of household in his father’s family.

The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI) was founded in 1945 with the objective to gain autonomy for Kurdistan, in north-west Iran.  After the Revolution, conflicts between the new central Shiite government and mainly Sunni Kurdistan regarding the role of minorities in the drafting of the constitution, specification of Shiite as the official state religion, and particularly the autonomy of the region, ended in armed clashes between the Revolutionary Guards and the Peshmerga (the militia of the PDKI).  The PDKI boycotted the referendum of April 1, 1979 when people went to polls to vote for or against the Islamic regime.  On August 19, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini called the PDKI the “party of Satan” and declared it “unofficial and illegal.”  Mass executions and fighting broke out and continued for several months.  By 1983, PDKI had lost much of its influence in the region.  Various leaders of the PDKI have been assassinated.

Arrest and detention

According to the person close to Mr. Qaderi, agents of the Intelligence Office in Orumieh summoned him to Orumieh for an official interview on October 15, 1997. They arrested him at the Azerbaijan-e Gharbi Health Office and transferred him to the Intelligence Office’s prison. According to the same source, the interrogators inflicted psychological pressure and physical harassment (torture) on Mr. Qaderi during his detention period at the Intelligence Office’s prisons in Orumieh and Sardasht. He had no visitation with his family during this period. Only after the trial and his transfer to the Orumieh Central Prison, was he allowed monthly visitations alternatively in a cabin for 30 minutes and in person for an hour. (Interview with ABF)  

Trial

According to the existing information, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad first tried Mr. Qaderi in the fall of 1997. It was a short session without the presence of an attorney. The case was subject to retrial and the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumieh retried him in the spring of 1998. (Interview with ABF)  No specific information is available on Mr. Qaderi’s trial. 

Charges

The charges against Mr. Qaderi were “acts against the national security, fighting against God, and membership in the Kurdish Democratic Party.”  (Interview with ABF) 

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 Mr. Qaderi. However, according to the interviewee, his confession and several copies of the Kurdistan newspaper, the publication of the Kurdish Democratic Party, found in his house, were used against him. (Interview with ABF)

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. In the case of political detainees, these confessions are, at times, televised. The National Television broadcasts confessions during which prisoners plead guilty to vague and false charges, repent and renounce their political beliefs, and/or implicate others. Human rights organizations have also pointed to the pattern of retracted confessions by those prisoners who are freed.

Defense

No information is available about Mr. Qaderi’s defense. However, according to the interviewee, he was denied the right to an effective defense. Mr. Qaderi had neither access to his file, nor an attorney. (Interview with ABF)  

Judgment

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumieh condemned Mr. Hamzeh Qaderi to death and the Appeals Court confirmed the ruling. He was hanged along with two other defendants at the Orumieh Central Prison on October 8, 2002. Authorities gave his body to the family on the condition of having no burial ceremony and only two family members could attend the burial. Mr. Qaderi’s body was buried at the Golestan cemetery in Sardasht. 

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