Iranian courts have condemned Afghan prisoners to death without allowing them the opportunity to defend themselves. Protestors in Kohistan have threatened violence if convicts on death row are not released to Afghan custody.
Iranian courts have condemned Afghan prisoners to death without allowing them the opportunity to defend themselves. Protestors in Kohistan have threatened violence if convicts on death row are not released to Afghan custody.In November last year, the Wolesi Jirga (Upper House) condemned the hanging of Afghan nationals in Iranian prisons as immoral and against good neighbourly relations by Tehran. There was no official confirmation of how many prisoners were hanged. The office of Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin described it as a “massacre”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, human rights and civil society organisations have urged the Iranian government to suspend the execution of Afghan prisoners.
Janan Musazai the spokesperson of ministry of foreign affairs says that the Afghan government has requested the Iranian government to suspend the execution order of Afghan citizens in Iran.
According to him, Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasool had requested his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in Vienna to review the executions and ensure justice is provided to Afghan prisoners. The ministers were participating in the 5th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations from Feb 27 to 28 in the Austrian capital.
“The (Iranian) foreign affairs promised to suspend the execution of Afghan subjects till the judiciary of both countries meet face to face and find a solution for a better justice delivery system,” he said. A high-level delegation of Afghan officials is due to travel to Tehran for discussions.
The Iranian government has not made official the number of Afghans on death row. It is reported that 1,200 of the 5,800 Afghans in Iranian prisons have been served the death sentence.
Elusive agreement
Last year in April, the two countries had come to an agreement to exchange prisoners (Afghans pawn in Iran relations with West’, Killid 415).
Spokesman Janan Musazai said the Iranian president had approved the agreement, which was signed by the two ministries of justice, and approved by the Afghan president and national assembly in 2006. Under the agreement prisoners can spend the rest of their imprisonment, which must be longer than six months, in their own country should they or their relatives so wish.
Sayed Abdul Nasir Yusufi, the representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Herat, confirmed the agreement. “We have informed the authorities in the Afghan consulate in Mashhad as well as the authorities of Iranian consulate in Herat officially through a letter,” he asserted. Border commissioners of both countries have discussed the issue.
Meanwhile, the condemnation of the hangings of Afghan prisoners, some of them first time offenders, has become louder. Yasin Negah, a rights campaigner, said prisoners are neither provided with able lawyers nor is their trial just. The situation is identical in Afghanistan for Iranian prisoners. “There is no transparency in the justice process,” he said.
Many of the Afghans were sentenced to death on drug trafficking charges. Mohammad Akbar, a resident of Kohsan district, Herat province, told Killid that his brother had gone to Iran in search of work at the end of 2011. Just a few months later he was accused of smuggling narcotics by Iranian security forces, and hanged. Akbar insisted his brother was innocent. (Afghans executed in Iranian jails, Killid 540).
For a fair trial, Afghans convicted in Iran should be brought back to Afghanistan, and their dossiers investigated, says Anwar Matin, a sociologist.
People protest
Many of the executed Afghan prisoners were from villages in Herat province, on the border with Iran. Recently there have been three rounds of protests by relatives against the hangings.
In February, protestors in Kohsan district blocked the highway between Herat City and Islam Qala for four hours urging the authorities to get the bodies of 13 executed prisoners from their district. Protestors said the men had illegally crossed into Iran in search of work. But they were arrested by Iranian security forces, and shot.
Thousands of Afghans work illegally in Iran. Most have crossed the porous border at the checkposts of Islam Qala and Tanga Abrishom area (Nimroz province).
Some of the protestors told Killid they have made many representations in the last two months to the provincial council in Herat and the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They threatened to resort to violence if prisoners are not released to Afghan custody.
Mohiuddin Noori, the spokesman of Herat governor, says: “The documents and evidence (of death row convicts submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) point to innocence.” The Afghan government must urgently take up the issue with its counterparts in Iran to “prevent the repeat of the hangings”, Mir Farooq Husani, a tribal and religious leader in Herat, has urged.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed it has not received any specific information on the hangings but has asked Afghan authorities to deal with Afghan prisoners justly and according to agreements between the two countries.
Police commander of the western zone, Sher Ahmad Madani, said the authorities were doing their best to address the concerns.
