- 17 December 2009
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- 2 Comments
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- Human Rights in Iran
Lawyer says case against Tajbakhsh devoid of evidence
17 December 2009 Posted By David Elliott
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is asserting that the case against Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh “contains no evidence to support the allegations against him,” based on conversations with Tajbakhsh’s lawyer who has studied the prosecution’s entire case against Tajbakhsh. Tajbakhsh was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “espionage”.
There is apparently no correlation between the evidence in his file and the conviction and sentencing of Tajbakhsh, while the file itself is evidence of the blatantly political and arbitrary nature of the case. Espionage is closely defined under Iranian law, and guilt needs to be established by evidence that highly confidential documents were passed to foreign governments. There are no references to such documents in the file.The file, only recently seen by Shafie, contains video clips of public demonstrations that Tajbakhsh allegedly emailed which hardly qualify as confidential or classified government documents. Tajbakhsh had no access to such documents in any event.
The Campaign goes on to document the numerous breaches of Tajbakhsh’s rights. (More below the fold):
Some of the more egregious violations of due process standards in this case include maintaining the defendant in temporary detention, which violates both Article 182 and Article 37 of the Judicial Proceedings of Penal Courts [Aiin Dadrasi Keyfari]. Under Iranian law, Tajbakhsh had the right to be released on bail after the primary investigation of his case.
Moreover, in his file it is mentioned that Judge Salavati, had ordered his release on bail, stating that Tajbakhsh had refused the offer of bail, and accepted to go to prison, which is patently false.
The process also violated principle 139 of the Constitution and article 188 Judicial Proceedings of Penal Courts which stipulate that a defendant is to remain anonymous until charges against him are approved by the court. But charges against Tajbakhsh were publicized prior to their being approved by the court.
The charges against Tajbakhsh are without merit because they do not refer to criminal acts. Under Article 2 of the Islamic Penal Code, any actions that have not been identified as criminal may not be considered as the basis for a criminal charge. This applies to the acts for which Tajbakhsh is charged, including for example, working as a consultant for the Open Society Institute (OSI) , which is not a crime, Shafie said.
The indictment against Tajbakhsh described his service as a consultant to the OSI, an international foundation, as de facto seditious. But the activities of the OSI in Iran had been agreed to with the government of the Islamic Republic under a memorandum that defined those activities, and no activities were performed by Tajbakhsh or by the OSI that were not agreed to by Iranian officials, Shafie said. Furthermore, Tajbakhsh’s consultancy with OSI ended in 2007, well before the recent elections.
Finally, the indictment is ridden with factual errors that invalidate it. Among its unreal claims, for example, is that the defendant participated in illegal demonstrations, and was arrested while committing this crime, while in fact he was arrested on 9 July, 2009, at 21:00 at his home while he was with his wife.
2 Responses to “Lawyer says case against Tajbakhsh devoid of evidence”
When a nation feels threatened by a foreign entity, NATIONAL SECURITY many times trumps rule of law or legal convetion. I could cite numerous such infractions by the US, post 9/11, in ways similar to the current reactionary sentiment in Iran. The biggest difference between the two is that Iran has not provoked itself into a foreign war of aggression, with all the death, carnage and human suffering that entails, all in the name of NATIONAL SECURITY. This continues in the form of an actual escalation under President Obama.
David, your post doesn’t mention the specifics of an appeal for Mr. Tajbakhsh. Do you have any to provide? Or is what you’ve provided the actual basis for such?
[quote] When a nation feels threatened by a foreign entity, NATIONAL SECURITY many times trumps rule of law or legal convetion [/quote]
May Allah help you.
Could you enlighten us as to what Mr. Tajbakhsh did for him to be treated this way.
As least the US does not claim to be doing what you think they did after 9/11 in the name of Allah. There is no Islami Repuplic of Iran. It is now Revolutionary Dictatorship of Iran, and you are nothing but just a pawn.
May Allah help you.