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

Mohsen Ranjbar

About

Age: 23
Nationality: Iran
Religion: Presumed Muslim
Civil Status: Married

Case

Date of Killing: December 15, 2003
Location of Killing: Esfahan, Esfahan Province, Iran
Mode of Killing: Hanging
Charges: Murder
Age at time of alleged offense: 20

About this Case

News of the execution of Mr. Mohsen Ranjbar was published in the Sharq newspaper on December 17, 2003. He was married and his case was related to the murder of a 60-year-old woman and her granddaughter at the Nikabad Village in Esfahan on December 18, 2000.

Arrest and detention

Mr. Ranjbar was arrested by detectives of the Esfahan Criminal Investigators at his residence several days after the murder incident. On that day, a woman called the police at the Nikabad Village in Esfahan informing them of the murder of a 60-year-old woman and her two-year-old granddaughter. Police noticed that the perpetrator had entered the house without any resistance. They investigated the relatives of the homeowner and found out that the husband of a granddaughter of the victim (Mr. Ranjbar) had been recently arrested for robbery and released on bail. When they went to his house, Mr. Ranjbar’s wife told the police that her husband had gone to Tehran. However, police investigation showed that no one with that name had left from the city terminals. With a warrant, police entered his house and found and arrested Mr. Ranjbar. He was detained for three years.

Trial

Branch Nine of the General Court in Esfahan tried Mr. Ranjbar. No information is available on his trial.

Charges

The charges brought against Mr. Ranjbar were announced as “murdering a woman, a two-year-old child, and robbery.”  

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 evidence presented against Mr. Ranjbar was “recovery of bodies of the grandmother and a two-year-old child, having a record for robbery, finding the stolen gold on him, and his confession.” In his confession, Mr. Ranjbar stated that he had been arrested for robbery 20 days before the murder incident. A relative bailed him out and he had to pay back the money he had stolen in 20 days. When his wife’s grandmother went to their house, he saw her gold, was tempted, and decided to steal it. On the day of the incident, he went to the house of his wife’s aunt and tried to get the golds forcefully from the grandmother. But she resisted and he suffocated her. Since her grandchild witnessed the incident, he suffocated her, too.

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.

Defense

No information is available on Mr. Ranjbar’s defense.

Judgment

Branch Nine of the General Court in Esfahan condemned Mr. Mohsen Ranjbar to death for committing two murders, and to 74 lashes for robbery. He was hanged in public and in the presence of judicial and security officials of the Esfahan province at Parvin Street in Esfahan on December 15, 2003.

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