A/HRC/16/75 executed by hanging, even if they stole nothing.15 Police Commander Sardar Doctor Ismael Ahmadi stressed that such measures would undoubtedly be most effective in combating crime.16 12. In July 2010, a large number of prisoners were reportedly executed at one time in Mashhad prison. When OHCHR staff sought further information from Iranian counterparts during a visit to Tehran in December 2010, the latter confirmed that 60 people had been executed in Mashhad in pending cases mostly linked to drug trafficking. On 3 January 2011, seven people convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in the western city of Kermanshah.17 On 19 January 2011, 10 people were executed in Rajai Shahr prison for drug trafficking.18 On 24 January 2011, three people charged with rape were executed in Evin prison.19 13. A worrying trend is the increasing number of cases in which political prisoners are accused of Mohareb (see paragraph 8 above), which carry the death penalty. In Iranian law, Mohareb relates to the use of armed violence; however, special procedures mandate holders and other independent experts have questioned the problematic and arbitrary nature of such charges. At least 22 people charged with Mohareb have been executed since January 2010. On 20 December 2010, 11 men accused of being linked to a bomb attack on 15 December in Chabahar were hanged in Zahedan prison after being convicted and sentenced to death for “corruption on earth, Mohareb and countering the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.20 On 28 December 2010, authorities executed Ali Saremi and Ali Akbar Siadat at Evin Prison in Tehran. Ali Saremi was charged with Mohareb for having links with a banned opposition group, the Mujahidin e Khalq Organization, while Ali Akbar Siadat was convicted of espionage for foreign intelligence services.21 On 24 January 2011, Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei were executed after having been accused of Mohareb for their alleged participation in post-election unrest and contacts with the People’s Mujahidin Organization of Iran.22 The High Commissioner had previously expressed concern to the Iranian authorities over the fair trial and sentencing to death of people for Mohareb offences.23 14. According to the Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran, over 50 per cent of death penalty cases involve retribution (qisas). The Iranian authorities exclude the State’s responsibility in such cases on the grounds that sharia jurisprudence considers qisas a private right of the victim’s family that cannot be overruled by the judiciary. The judiciary makes considerable efforts to mediate between the victim’s family and the perpetrator to promote a diyah settlement, in which the victim’s family forgoes this right, sometimes following a monetary settlement. However, when the power of pardon is not viewed as lying with the State, this does not fulfil the defendants’ rights to appeal for pardon or a commuted sentence under international law. In one such case, Shahla Jahed, who had contracted a temporary marriage with Nasser Mohammad-Khani, a former player for the Iranian national football team, was executed on 1 December 2010. Shahla Jahed was convicted of stabbing her husband’s permanent wife to death. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 6 www.irna.ir/newsshow.aspx?nid=30114827. http://news.police.ir/ncms/fullstory/?id=202488. http://isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1686718&Lang=P. www.irna.ir/newsshow.aspx?nid=30195341 and www.isna.ir/isna/newsview.aspx?id=news1698211&lang=p. www.isna.ir/isna/newsview.aspx?id=news-1701668&lang=P. www.irna.ir/html/1389/13890929/30133861.htm. www.isna.ir/isna/newsview.aspx?id=news-1682865&lang=e. www.isna.ir/isna/newsview.aspx?id=news-1701665&lang=p. See A/65/370.