Shadi Paveh
They both await public execution
at any time, most likely from a crane, commonly used for hangings in
Iran to ensure the slowest and most painful suffocation. The method does
not use a trap door, but instead the accused is hoisted up slowly so
that death will not be instantaneous.
Zaniar and Loghman Moradi, cousins, were arrested in 2009 on charges
of "enmity to God and corruptors on earth," and a year later they were
sentenced to death by Judge Salevati, known as Tehran's "Hanging Judge."
Both were twenty years old at the time of their arrest.
Zaniar Moradi on the left and Loghman Moradi on the right.
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Zaniar Moradi had gone with his cousin to Iraq to visit
his father, a member of a banned Kurdish opposition group, only to find
the trip arbitrarily linked, with no evidence, to the murder of the son
of member of Iran's senior clergy, as well, allegedly, to work with a
British intelligence agency and opposition groups -- activities all
punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
In a letter dated February 7, 2012 from the dreaded Rajai-Shahr
Prison, they wrote that they had "been subjected to unspeakable forms of
torture for thirty months; kept in solitary confinement and had no
access to family or lawyers." They said that due to repeated physical,
psychological and sexual torture, they were finally forced to confess to
the murder. In the same letter; the cousins simply ask for a fair trial
-- an impossibility in the courts of the Islamic Republic, where trials
routinely last only a few minutes, with no evidence, no lawyers and no
jury. The accused can be sentenced to hang publicly at any time, most
likely from a crane, commonly used for hangings there to ensure the
slowest and most painful suffocation. The method does not use a trap
door, but instead the accused is hoisted up slowly so that death will
not be instantaneous.
A hanging in Iran.
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A hanging in Iran.
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A hanging in Iran.
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According to reports received by HRANA News Agency, Zaniar Moradi is
now paralyzed as a result of the torture he suffered, and can only move
by crawling or with the help of other prisoners. He is also apparently
in excruciating pain from a spinal infection and serious testicular
damage, both sustained during torture. He is denied medication. As
stated by HRANA News Agency's latest report on January 8, 2014, Mr.
Mardani, the warden of the prison, has stated: "We do not pay any costs
for inmates who are sentenced to death." Aside from lack of painkillers
or basic medical care, prison officials have offered no aid for his
paralysis.
Both men risk further punishment by writing letters to various human
rights organizations and United Nations representatives -- to no avail.
Both await execution at any time.
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