Adnan Hassanpour
Encyclopedia
Adnan Hassanpour is an Iran
ian-Kurd
ish journalist who was sentenced to death in Iran in 2007 and reversed a year later. He is currently being re-tried on the capital charges of espionage and working with outlawed parties.
In April 2007, after being held for four months in detention, without access to a lawyer, Hassanpour was charged by Revolutionary Court
prosecutors with “espionage,” “acting against national security,” and “active armed resistance against the state” (Moharebeh
), which is punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code. The Supreme Court of Iran confirmed his death sentence on July 17, 2007, but it was reversed by the Head of the Judiciary on 3 September 2008 who sent it back to the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj for review. According to his lawyer, Sirvan Houshmand, "the legal case against Hassanpour rests purely on evidence from interrogation reports obtained during his detention," lacking any other corroborating evidence, and interrogators in Iranian prisons, (according to human rights groups), "routinely subject detainees to physical and psychological ill-treatment to obtain coerced confessions."
Hassanpour is the former editor of the journal "Aso," (Horizons) which was banned in August, 2005. Reporters Without Borders
and Amnesty International
have spoken out on behalf of Hassanpour.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian-Kurd
Kürd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish journalist who was sentenced to death in Iran in 2007 and reversed a year later. He is currently being re-tried on the capital charges of espionage and working with outlawed parties.
In April 2007, after being held for four months in detention, without access to a lawyer, Hassanpour was charged by Revolutionary Court
Islamic Revolutionary Court
Islamic Revolutionary Court is a special court in the Islamic Republic of Iran designed to try those suspected of smuggling, blaspheming, inticing violence or trying to overthrow the Iranian government...
prosecutors with “espionage,” “acting against national security,” and “active armed resistance against the state” (Moharebeh
Moharebeh
Moharebeh is the title of a crime in Islamic law. Mohareb refers to the perpetrator of the crime. Moharebeh has been translated in English language media sources variously as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state," "enmity against God." Mohareb has been translated by English...
), which is punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code. The Supreme Court of Iran confirmed his death sentence on July 17, 2007, but it was reversed by the Head of the Judiciary on 3 September 2008 who sent it back to the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj for review. According to his lawyer, Sirvan Houshmand, "the legal case against Hassanpour rests purely on evidence from interrogation reports obtained during his detention," lacking any other corroborating evidence, and interrogators in Iranian prisons, (according to human rights groups), "routinely subject detainees to physical and psychological ill-treatment to obtain coerced confessions."
Hassanpour is the former editor of the journal "Aso," (Horizons) which was banned in August, 2005. Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
have spoken out on behalf of Hassanpour.