Iran Interview: Wife of Jafar Kazemi, Condemned to Death, "We Request the Help of All Our Compatriots"

Jafar Kazemi, a lithographer for textbooks and pamphlets for Amir Kabir University, was arrested on 18 September 2009, apparently for putting up posters supporting the opposition. Soon he faced more serious charges.

Kazemi was accused of "mohareb" (war against God), a crime which carries the death penalty. Like others who have been executed in Iran, the public support for the allegation appears to be that Kazemi has a relative --- in this case, a son --- who is in Camp Ashraf in Iraq. The camp is home to many members of the People's Mojahedin of Iran, a banned organisation which has sought the overthrow of the Iranian regime for more than 30 years.

Kazemi was convicted and sentenced to hang. In recent weeks, activists have expressed increasing concern that his execution is imminent.

Masih Alinejad, working for the oppostion site Rah-e-Sabz (Jaras), interviewed Roudabeh Akbari, the wife of Kazemi, this week. The translation is by Siavosh Jalili.

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Jaras: Mrs. Akbari, these days there is news circulating about the executions of some political prisoners on the charges of “Moharebeh through cooperation with and ties to the People’s Mujahedin of Iran Organization (PMOI).” Do you have any news of your husband who has been sentenced to death on the [same] charge?

Roudabeh Akbari: I also heard the news through the media. They haven’t said anything to me or to the lawyer. We heard from human rights news sources that the execution of my husband is imminent.

Jaras-:Is there any hope that the news is only a rumour so that there will be more time to pursue the case [and have the death sentence overturned]?

Roudabeh Akbari: I know that the sentence has not gone to the Execution of Sentences Circuit Court. However, when I met an informed source, (s)he told me that the sentence was sent to the execution of sentences office; however, no decision has been made on the case.

Jaras- When and how was your last meeting with [Mr. Kazemi]?

Roudabeh Akbari: I visited my husband yesterday.  He told me to “trust in God. Nothing has happened yet.” He was in high spirits and said that a prisoner is usually isolated and taken to solitary confinement the night prior to the execution. However, so far, no steps have been taken by the officials that would make me feel the execution is imminent.

Jaras: How was the trial of your husband? Can you describe briefly his arrest and the court proceeding?

Roudabeh Akbari- After the 2009 Presidential election, they decided to arrest my husband. My young son lives in Camp Ashraf [where the Mujahedin militants are based] and my husband had gone [to Iraq] to visit him. However, when he returned, they arrested him in Tehran. The agents arrested my husband at 5:00am on Haft Hoz square in Tehran. Then, they took him to his mother’s home and searched and ransacked the entire place, but they did not find anything. They asked my mother-in-law, “Do you know that your husband has taken your grandson to Camp Ashraf?” She replied, “What my grandson has done has nothing to do with his father.” Then, they came to our home and searched everywhere.

Jaras: What did they exactly confiscate from your home and the home of your mother-in-law?

Roudabeh Akbari: Nothing really. They took a series of family videos (CD’s). We really did not have anything for them to take or use as evidence. There was no evidence. I had bought a cellphone where I would receive occasional calls from my son so that I, as a mother, could hear and find peace in my child’s voice. Now, they say, “You had contacts with the Mujahedin in Ashraf by using this phone. You were taking leads [from the Mujahedin], and you were leading these [post-election] protests and demonstrations.” However, there [is no merit for these accusations]. As a mother, I was restless [to have some sort of contact with my son]. After a year, they [the officials] told us to go and retrieve our belongings. I asked them, “Did you give my husband a death sentence based on the family videos?” They told me to trust in God and that nothing will happen, God willing.
 

Jaras- What is the specific charge against your husband in the case?

Roudabeh Akbari: They have levelled 13 charges against my husband. It is absolutely unbelievable. For example, they claim that he was giving leads to students to take part in protests. My husband had no ties with the universities. Another charge is that he provided financial assistance [to the opposition movement], but we are renters ourselves. My husband was a lithograph and the condition of the publishing market was so bad for about eight months that I could tell you that my husband had almost gone bankrupt. How could a person in such a financial state provide financial assistance?

They also accused him of sending the youth to Camp Ashraf. My husband asked them, “Provide one shred of evidence to prove how I was able to do such a thing. With what means and under what conditions [would I have been able to do such a thing]?”

Another charge was having ties with Mujahed friends. What do our relationships with our friends, which are completely in a familial context, have anything to do with organizational activities? In other words, we should not communicate and socialize with anybody? No matter how much we argued, they would not accept [our words] and insisted on their own version [of events].
 

Jaras: In your husband’s case, did they refer to any specific point about participation in post-election protests?

Roudabeh Akbari: My husband had no role in the demonstrations and he said this during his interrogations. He, like many others, had stuck posters on walls. Does that [act] carry such a [heavy]sentence? The death sentence does not fit the crime. Even his lawyer stated that, according to [the regime's] own Islamic Republic Constitution, the maximum sentence he can be handed down is six months to one year in jail. However, it seems that this sentence is completely political. There are political motives behind issuing this sentence against my husband.
 

Jaras: How were you and your husband treated by the court?

Roudabeh Akbari: In the court, they treated my husband very badly. I was informed that Judge Moghiseh told my husband, “You should have been executed back in the 1980′s, however, back then, you slipped from our hands, but this time, I will not allow the same to happen and you will not be able to escape [alive].” I told Judge Moghiseh, “Even if I talk to you for hours, you only accept what is in your mind and pay no attention to my words or the defense presented by my husband’s lawyer.” I wish people would hear our voice and help us so that we can put this crisis behind us. This punishment does not fit the action of my husband. He did not engage in any political activities after being released [in the 90's], and now they are punishing my husband for what my son has done.
 

Jaras: Could you describe your husband’s activities to inform and enlighten the public?

Roudabeh Akbari: It was not as though my husband had any specific political activities. He started a family and was busy raising his family. In 1981, he was a member of the Mujahedin, but he had no political activities afterward. He was sentenced to 15 years back then, but after serving nine years, he received a pardon and was released. I do not understand why they came to arrest him again all of a sudden, now that he has no ties to the Mujahedin. He had only gone to Camp Ashraf to visit his son. They should not try the father instead of the son.
 

Jaras: What is the reaction of friends, people, and the society that you live in regarding the charges against your husband and the death sentence? and the death sentence for your husband?

Roudabeh Akbari- When people are informed and find out about our grievances, they offer their sympathy because nobody believes that in the 21st century a political prisoner should be executed, and particularly not on the charge of Moharebeh [Enmity with God]. [The Moharebeh charge is used against people] who have taken up arms. They were not even able to find a pin [as evidence against my husband]. This sentence is inhumane.

Jaras: Have you had any meetings with authorities and officials to seek their assistance in person?

Roudabeh Akbari: Whomever we asked [for help] did not listen to us. I ask all the intellectual clerics to stop such sentences. I ask Ayatollah Sane'i, Mr. Vahid Khorasani, and all those who are our religious jurisprudences and who people follow [in religious matters] to stop the fundamentalists and tell them that by carrying out such sentences, they only further alienate people. Let us assume that they execute my husband or other political activists; what problems are then solved in the country? Such sentences provide no results and only create an atmosphere of terror, fear, and pessimism among the people.

Jaras- What is your request from people?

Roudabeh Akbari: My younger son is not in a good mental and psychological state. He is so restless and worried that he does not let go of me. He looks at my reactions. I swallow my sobs and hold back my tears to not show sadness so my son’s mental and psychological state does not [further] deteriorate. But how much strength do we have? We [request] the help of all our compatriots so my husband will not be executed. People ask that if the country is stable, then why are executions carried out? If my husband is executed, they have not just executed one person, they will have executed an entire family. By executing my husband, his children and I will be executed too. It is not fair to execute my husband who was busy with his life and had no political activities only for the political tendencies of my son. Right now, my home phones are under surveillance, and I know my husband’s interrogators and the Intelligence agents are hearing my voice. If they have a conscience, [they should] think of how they would like a theocracy to treat them, then they [should] treat my husband the same way.

Jaras- Thank you for your time.