Letter from Sakineh’s Son Sajjad: Gratitude for Supporters Around the World and Hard Questions for the Islamic Republic

P2E

Accept my greetings and gratitude.
I who write this letter, Sajjad
Ghader-zade, 22 years old, want to first of all tell you about my mother and the
way she was convicted.
My mother, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, was arrested in
the city of Oskoo on charges of adultery. She was prosecuted in the Oskoo
criminal court. My mother and Mr. Naser and Mr. Ali Nojumiha were each sentenced
to 99 lashes there, and the sentences were fully served at the executive office
on everyone convicted in this case. Then as to why the case was sent to Branch
VI of Eastern Azerbaijan retribution court in Tabriz for review, I have no idea.
Here my mother’s case was reviewed by five judges, after which Mr. Imani, the
head of Branch VI, and two of his colleagues, based on their own wisdom
sentenced my mother to death by stoning, while two others found my mother
innocent of the charges and stated this verdict clearly. Mr. Mostafaei
(Sakineh’s lawyer) says there are a lot of uncertainties and doubts in this
case.
Mr. Mostafaei refers to two judges in the panel who clearly stated that
there was neither evidence nor legal grounds whatsoever in the file to sentence
Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, and the existing indications and evidence could
not provide basis for any assumptions by the panel, and one accused should not
stand trial twice on the same charge. The case was then sent to the Supreme
Court, which unfortunately upheld the sentence. This was a summary of the case
but I want to point out other uncertainties regarding the case.
We have
traveled more than six times to Tehran to visit Mr. Larijani, Khamenei, and
Ahmadi-Nezhad, and written more than a hundred times to them but have not
received any response, so I have no option but to reach out to them this way. I
want to ask the country’s authorities a few questions and hope they hear
me.
First of all, Mr. Larijani, why has an accused been twice prosecuted on
the same charge while, even according to the Islamic criminal law, a convict
should be prosecuted for a crime once and not more than once?
Second, Mr.
Larijani, you are the head of the country’s judiciary. How come the country’s
judges do not take your orders seriously? Mr. Shahrudi had, in an amendment,
ordered the country’s judges to ban stoning sentences, yet contrary to this
order, judges still issue stoning sentences. Why, in our case for instance, did
Mr. Imani, despite lack of evidence and proof, issue a stoning sentence for my
mother? If he is motivated by his wisdom, I must ask what the basis for that
wisdom is. If he is demonstrating his wisdom, was Mr. Imani present when my
mother committed the crime against which he issues a verdict with such
decisiveness?
Third, when Mr. Mostafaei, via Mehr media outlet, interviewed
Mr. Yusefi, the general director of Oskoo’s provincial justice department, the
latter claimed that there was no sentence served in this case in Oskoo’s
jurisdiction, but I was present when this was done. I ask the head of justice
department why a judge like Yusefi, who himself issued a sentence, denies the
execution of his own verdict?
These are the three questions that should be
answered. But I, as an Iranian citizen who has not succeeded to get an audience
with your office, to you, the head of the judiciary, who through the TV networks
day in and out announces that justice must prevail and the officials guilty of
misconduct will be punished, say that there is no justice in this country, and
your justice is only as just as the misconduct of judges of the country who are
not corrected by you. I ask you: has justice been served in my mother’s case?
Can you answer to these three questions?
I ask you to send the letter of my
mother’s pardon to Tabriz and return my mother’s life back to her. I hope that
you see to it that justice in my mother’s case prevails, for thanks to your
judges’ wisdom, my mother is in a bad psychological state, and in five years has
been imprisoned without a day of permission [editor's note – a day of leave from
the prison].
I have now said all that should have been said. My mother and I
are asking the people of the world to help us, and are deeply grateful for what
has been done thus far.
Many thanks,
Sajjad Ghader-Zadeh