A/HRC/28/70 that led to the death of a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. While detained by the Intelligence Ministry, he was reportedly tortured and forced to sign a confession while wearing a blindfold. It was reported that interrogators pulled out his finger and toe nails and beat him on his back, legs, and abdomen. In January 2012, he was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad on charges of moharebeh (sometimes translated as “enmity with God” and sometimes as “drawing a weapon to the populace with intent to instill fear”) and efsad fel-arz (“corruption on earth”). The Supreme Court overturned the conviction stating the Revolutionary Court lacked jurisdiction to try Mr. Naseem as he was less than 18 years old at the time of the alleged offense. A retrial was held in April 2013 where Branch Two of the Criminal Court of the West Azerbaijan Province sentenced Mr. Naseem to death without reference to the Supreme Court holding. In December 2013, the Supreme Court reportedly upheld Mr. Naseem’s execution sentence.6 In its reply to the Draft Report, the Government confirmed that Mr. Naseem was tried at Branch 2 of the Criminal Court based on charges of “armed action against the Islamic Republic of Iran country by membership in banned PJAK terrorist group and taking part in an armed terrorist attack against military forces that caused the death and injury of a number of military personnel.” The Government stated there were five judges presiding over the trial, and it was after hearing “defense arguments by him and his lawyers and exhaustion of all legal remedies” that Mr. Naseem was sentenced to death. In November 2014, head of the Judiciary Mr. Sadegh Amoli Larijani defended the practice of executing juvenile offenders once they come of age: “[The allegation of] the execution of juveniles [in Iran] under the age of 18 [is] completely false. We, however, don’t have a reason to ignore the heirs to the blood right of qisas [retribution in kind] when a person that was 17.5 years old at the time of the crime turns 25.”7 20. In December 2014, in addition to Mr. Naseem, authorities had allegedly threatened nine other prisoners awaiting execution in Urumia Prison with expediting the implementation of their sentences in retaliation for participating in the hunger strike: Messrs. Ali Afshari, Habib Afshari, Behrouz Alkhani, Mohammad Abdollahi, Sayed Sami Hosseini, Sayed Jamal Mohammadi, Sirvan Nejavi, Ebrahim Rezapour, and Ali Ahmad Soleiman.8 21. On 18 February 2015, Messrs. Younes Aghayan, Habibollah Afshari, Ali Afshari, Sirwan Najavi, and Ebrahim Shapouri were reportedly transferred from Urumia Prison to an unknown location.9 22. Messrs. Ali and Habib Afshari had been arrested in December 2010 in the West Azerbaijan Province and transferred to Mahabad and Urumia Detention Centers, where they were allegedly held incommunicado for four months, interrogated, and tortured.10 Ali and Habib Afshari were reportedly charged with moharebeh (sometimes translated as “enmity with God” and sometimes as “drawing a weapon to the populace with intent to instill fear”) through “propaganda” activities and membership in a State opposition party.11 On 5 December 2011, they were tried at the Mahabad Revolutionary Court, and were 6 7 8 9 10 11 http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-alleged-juvenile-offender-among-10hunger-strikers-threatened-immediat. Statement – November 2014. Amnesty International’s press release submitted to the office of the Special Rapporteur on 16 December 2014. Iran Human Rights submission to the office of the Special Rapporteur on 20 February 2015, http://iranhr.net/2015/02/unofficial-report-saman-naseem-was-executed-yesterday/. http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/02/kurdish-brothers/. Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan submission to the office of the Special Rapporteur on 23 April 2014,http://hro-kurd.net/Article.aspx?fld=fa/Scout&id=430. 27