Abodlreza Ghanbari’s Death Sentence Case and Petition

RAHANA
BACKGROUND

Death row teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari was arrested on January 4, 2010 from his home in Pakdasht (a township in the province of Tehran). He was taken to ward 209 in Evin prison.

In November 2009, Abdolreza Ghanbari received an email allegedly sent by the Mujahedin Khalgh Organization (PMOI/MKO). The teacher was asked to reply with a telephone number for further contact. Some time after he received the email, Ghanbari was contacted by an individual who claimed to be a representative by the organisation. Ghanbari was asked to participate in street protests and submit his reports later. On the day of Ashura (December 27, 2009), Ghanbari gave the alleged MKO representative a one minute report over the phone and sent a 30 second video clip to the email address.

A week later, on January 4, 2010, Ghanbari was arrested at his work place, a high school in Pakdasht. In the hours and days that followed his arrest, realizing that the agents had a lot of information on him, the teacher agreed to make a false and exaggerated self-incriminating confession in his trial.

On January 29, Ghanabari was taken to a courtroom along with Morteza Samyari, Payam Fanaian, and several others detained in solitary confinement in ward 240 of [Evin prison].

The prisoners were given a list containing a series of questions and desired answers they were expected to [rehearse] and [recite], in return for lighter sentences in the next day’s court hearing.

The prisoners were told to vocalize their right to a lawyer on their videotaped confession to receive more leniency. On January 30, 2010, during a court hearing with presiding judge Salavati, the defendants acted accordingly and accepted all charges. Consequently, judge Salavati sentenced Abdolreza Ghanbari to execution.

Reports by a RAHANA correspondent indicate that the initial email that asked Ghanbari to send protest reports was not sent from an MKO address and could have been sent by the Ministry of Intelligence. A recently released prisoner told RAHANA, “There are a large number of individuals with prior history of political convictions or accusations who have remained persons of interest to the Ministry of Intelligence. Some of them have been arrested without participating in post-election events.”

Abdolreza Ghanbari was forced to sign a false confession after being repeatedly subjected to interrogations. The teacher was only allowed to provide yes or no answers to the interrogator’s questions.

Sources close to Ghanbari say that he was in Pakdasht on the day of the Ashura (December 27, 2009) events.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), emails dating back to 2007 (for which he had served a prison sentence) were added to Ghanbari’s new case during the interrogations. When the teacher tried to argue that the emails dated back to 2007 and that he had already served the related prison term, the interrogation form was torn up. Ghanbari was forced to accept responsibility for emails sent to him on January 20, 2010, even though during that time he was detained.

Hamid Babayi, the legal representative for the imprisoned teacher, has not been allowed to review his client’s file in the two visits he made to the Evin magistrate court.

Meanwhile, on April 27, 2010, a previously scheduled hearing was held at branch 36 of the Appeals Court with judge Zargar. The court upheld Ghanbari’s death sentence.

Ghanbari is a university professor and the author of five books. He was also a member of the Garmsar Writers Center from 2001 to 2004.

Ghanbari and three other teachers (Rasoul Baddaghi, Omid Ali Mehrnia, and Mohammad Davari) are currently held in ward 350 of Evin prison.

Prior to his first trial on January 29, 2010, Ghanbari, who was encouraged by judge Salavati and the Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, agreed to give a taped interview in return for his freedom.

The next day, the detained teacher was tried and sentenced to death. His court-appointed attorney presented a defense that lasted a few seconds and was in complete approval of the indictment.

Ghanbari, who is currently held in cell 9 of ward 350, is reportedly in dire psychological state. His case is being handled by magistrate Hajmohammadi at branch 1 of the Evin magistrate court. The court has repeatedly threatened the teacher with execution

گزارشی از پرونده عبدالرضا قنبری، معلم محکوم به اعدام

عبدالرضا قنبری در روز ۱۴ دی‌ماه در منزل شخصی‌اش در پاکدشت بازداشت و راهی بند ۲۰۹ زندان اوین شد.
رهانا: عبدارضا قنبری در بازجویی‌های «مکرر و پرفشار» مجبور به امضای اعتراف شده است. او در جواب بازجو تنها قادر به گفتن بلی یا خیر بوده است. این در حالی‌ست که به گفته نزدیکان این زندانی سیاسی، او در روز عاشورا در پاکدشت حضور داشته و در این باب عده ای از ساکنین محل نیز گواهی می‌دهند.
به گزارش کمیته گزارشگران حقوق بشر،در طول بازجویی‌ها، ایمیل‌های سال ۸۶ به قبل را نیز به پرونده این دوره‌اش اضافه کردند در حالی که وی محکومیت آن پرونده را گذرانده بود. عبدالرضا قنبری، زمانی که سعی کرده بود در جواب سوالات بازجو از عبارت «این ایمیل‌ها مربوط به سال ۸۶ است که من محکومیت آن را گذرانده‌ام» استفاده کند، برگه‌های بازجویی پاره شد.

نکته دیگر، فشار برای قبول ایمیل‌هایی است که وی در زمان ارسال آنها در بازداشت به سر می‌برده است. برای مثال او در ۱۴ دی بازداشت شده و مجبور به پذیرش ایمیل‌هایی می شود که در ۳۰ دی برایش ارسال شده است.
حمید بابایی وکیل این زندانی سیاسی در پی دو بار حضور در دادسرای اوین هنوز موفق به مطالعه پرونده نشده است و این در حالی‌ست که بنابر قرار قبلی، سه شنبه ۷ اردیبهشت دادگاه تجدید نظر وی در شعبه ۳۶ به ریاست قاضی زرگر برگزار شده است.عبد الرضا قنبری استاد دانشگاه و کارمند آموزش و پرورش و نویسنده پنج جلد کتاب است. وی در بازه زمانی ۸۰ تا ۸۳ در کانون نویسندگان گرمسار عهده دار مسئولیت بوده است. وی استاد دانشگاه آزاد گرمسار و دانشگاه پیام نور پاکدشت، استاد دانشگاه عالی کشاورزی گرمسار و نیز به عنوان معلم در مدارس برتر گرمسار و پاکدشت تدریس کرده است.
در حال حاضر وی به همراه سه معلم دیگر به نام‌های رسول بداغی، امیدعلی مهرنیا و محمد داوری در بند ۳۵۰ به سر می‌برد.
بعد از وعده‌هایی که به عبدالرضا قنبری مبنی بر آزادی داده شد، در همان پرونده، روز قبل از دادگاه بدوی (۹/۱۱/۸۸) احضار شد و در حضور دادستان دولت آبادی و قاضی صلواتی و بازجو، تشویق به انجام مصاحبه‌ای شد که از طرف ایشان تنظیم شده بود. به این زندانی سیاسی گفته شد: «ایراد این متن به نفع تو خواهد بود و موجبات آزادی تو را فراهم می‌نماید.»
بعد از اخذ مصاحبه و فیلمبرداری، روز بعد (۱۰/۱۱/۸۸) دادگاه بدوی تشکیل و وی محکوم به اعدام شد. این در حالی‌ست که وکیل تسخیری وی در آن دادگاه در چند ثانیه تنها به تایید کیفرخواست پرداخت.
عبدالرضا قنبری، هم اکنون در سلول ۹ بند ۳۵۰ و در شرایط بد روحی به سر می‌برد. پرونده وی نیز در شعبه اول دادسرای اوین به ریاست بازپرس حاج محمدی است که از ابتدا وی را بارها به اعدام تهدید کرد


In 2006, Abdolreza Ghanbari was arrested and accused of having telephone contact with the MKO. He was released after four months of detention in Sari prison.