May the peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.
We present to you the injustice inflicted on our 36 imprisoned brothers, the supporters of Imam Al-Mahdi (PBUH), by the influential people in Dhi Qar governorate since 2008 AD. They have issued death sentences to most of them and life imprisonment to others, without any evidence of a crime against them except confessions that were extracted under the pressure of coercion and torture.
We urge to whoever cares about the oppressed to intervene and save their lives and release them. His reward with God is protected.
*The events refer to attacks carried out in 2008 by a group called “Soldiers of Heaven” which the 36 oppressed prisoners have no relation with and are completely against them.
A brief explanation of the injustice suffered by our imprisoned brothers.
Following is a presentation of some of the oppression and injustice experienced by the sentenced prisoners and the legal violations and illegal behaviour that were committed by the authorities:
1 – The investigation of the accused was done by the Dhi Qar Special Operations Task Force and this force is not responsible for investigations and is rather an executive body. They were subjected to torture and inhumane treatment, and the medical reports prove this. This is confirmed by the visit of the representative of the Parliament Legal Committee at the time, Mr. Bahaa’ Al-‘Araaji, along with witnesses who also affirm the torture. He mentioned it in his memo to Mr Medahat Al-Mahmood on the 26th of February 2009 and it is numbered 45 (Given at the end of this article).
As a result of this letter, Mr. Medahat Al-Mahmoud interacted with and addressed the President of the Federal Court of Appeals of Dhi Qar with the letter No. 151/office/2009/ on the 26th of February 2009. As a result, this regiment was restructured, the responsibility changed, and all cases run by this forced were re-investigated. Unfortunately, the case neglected 36 people for personal reasons and particular influences.
2 – The interrogators who were overseeing and responsible for the torture were convicted. These convictions were due to complaints filed by the following prisoners:
– Alaa Khalaf Abd Ali Nasro
– Lifteh Rasheej Salem
– Muhammad Ali Hattab
– Muhammad Abdul Ameer
Due to these complaints, arrest warrants were issued for the following officers who then escaped from the military service:
– Akram Jalab Hasheesh
– Khaled Rustom Samar
– Ghassan Adnan Dakhil
– Muhannad Dukhun Khalaf
– Majed Rustom Samar
– Omar Aziz Faris
It was later discovered that these officers submitted a request to the Pardon Committee in 2008 and their request was accepted and they were returned to their departments.
They were included the pardon according to the letter issued by the Supreme Judicial Council, No. 501/Amnesty/2010, dated May 23rd, 2010. This is also mentioned in another letter issued on the same date No. 500/Amnesty/2010
There was no action taken for the prisoners who submitted the complaint at the time, such as a re-investigation or a retrial, and they neglected the matter for reasons we do not know.
3 – The court’s relied on the testimony of an accused against another accused, who were both overpowered in their matter by the authorities. Amongst them is one whose eyes were gauged out with a key, another one becoming mentally ill, and another becoming paraplegic, and they are still suffering from the illness and pain.
4 – An arrest warrant was issued against Lieutenant Akram Jalab Hasheesh, one of the investigators of the case, who was charged for killing a prisoner in the investigation. An arrest warrant was issued for him with the number 1257 on the 1st of June 2008 and a death sentence was also issued for him by the Wasit Criminal Court No. 418/H/2008 on the 15th of October, 2009. This is official evidence of his criminal act during the investigation. However, due to their influence they manage to get away with it.
5 – Intentional cover ups were carried out. An example is the patient Kadhem Taqi Murad who died as a result of acute enteritis, according to his death certificate numbered 95455 and dated January 1st, 2008.
However, whoever wanted to mingle the papers for the court said that he was killed during the event and thus the sentenced people were convicted.
It must be noted that there does not exist any death certificates nor medical reports in the casefile for the victims. This reflects the magnitude of the cover ups practiced by the court to prove that they died because of the events.
This is excluding the reports which prove the opposite of the claims. An example is the medical report of the victims Sayer Issa and Sahar Omid Hamid who were injured in locations dozens of kilometres from the scene of the events and for reasons other than what that occurred on that day.
6 – The judge, Aziz Shintah Al-Jaabari, is the cousin of one of the officers who were a victim in the case. He used his influence and took statements from the accused in the investigation rooms and did not allow the families of the accused to appoint lawyers for their relatives. Rather, they assigned them lawyers who knew nothing of the situation.
7 – Investigative Judge Azeez Shintah Al-Jaabari, participated in the criminal court and was a judge. In spite of the fact that there was a conflict of interest in the matter because the victim was his cousin.
8 – The records of the weapons are fake and duplicate and the seized weapons were not sent for evidential examination noting that they are non-working. As indicated in the indictment, the judge indicates that they are non-working.
9 – Mo’taz Subhi Aboud was one of the prisoners who were sentenced to life after he had confessed, under torture, to what justifies a life sentence according to Iraqi law. He spent a year in prison and endured various types of torture. He was eventually released after the Court of Cassation overturned the decision and re-trailed him with eyewitness testimonies which proved that he was not present in Iraq on the day of the events
10 – There is not a single seizure report which proves that the accused carried any weapons.
11 – The public prosecutor had a sympathetic stance towards the convicted individuals and made an explicit demand for their release and retrial.
12 – All those requesting individual rights have no eyewitness testimony (to support their case).
Each of these points have supporting evidence attached below:
Despite all this, requests for a retrial or investigation were sent to the Pardon Committee, and they were met with rejection.
The names of Ansari prisoners that are sentenced to death:
1 – Ghanim Rasheej Salman
2 – Raheem Bashi ‘Awad
3 – Sabbah Noori Daagher
4 – Mahmoud Razzaq Muhammad Tawelib
5 – Ali Atiyah Raheemah
6 – Haider Kadhem Doweej
7 – Hussein Shareef Marzook
8 – ‘Abd-al-iIlah Naim Delli
9 – Muhammad Shareef Marzooq
10 – Ghassan Mundher Mahoos
11 – Muhammad Jawad Hussain
12 – Aqeel Qasim Muhammad Mahoos
13 – Hussein Abdul Zahra Owdeh
14 – Muhammad Ali Hataab Ad-heem Sahar
15 – Dheaa’ Adheeb Lahmood
16 – Aqeel Jassim Muhammad Sha’een
17 – Fadhel Muhammad Sha’een Hareeja
18 – Ali Dakheel Salem Radhi
19 – Alaa Khalaf Abd Ali
20 – Haidar Yusef Aziz
21 – Thaer Hattab Aati Alawi
22 – Mohammad Abdul Ameer Jafar
23 – Kadhim Waheed Hussain Hafidh
24 – Ahmed Hashem Jaber Maktoom
The names of the Ansari prisoners that are sentenced to life imprisonment:
25 – Muhammad Nasir Hameem Abd
26 – Ahmed Aziz Khalaf Mohammad
27 – Hussein Farhan Khalawi
28 – Maaher Na’eem ‘Ajami Mez’al
29 – Sa’eed Khaaji Khalaf
30 – Haidar Majeed Abbas ‘Obaid
31 – Sabaah Baqir Ni’met Musa
32 – Lifteh Rasheej Salem
33 – Hasan Shareef Marzouk
34 – Azhar Thajeel Dahham
35 – Najjah Talib Salman
36 – Hussein Rasheej Salem
Requesting everyone to share, raise and report this unjust human right violation against innocent people in Iraq, who are being sentenced to death just for practicing their basic fundamental right of belief. #AfrijuAnhum (Free Them)
Recent Statement from Ahmed Al-Hasan about the ongoing persecution of Ansar in Iraq:
“We are warning the Republic of Iraq’s Presidency and the Iraqi Government not to ratify or execute the death sentences against some of the believers.* The death sentences of these believers were issued in unfair and fabricated trials by partisan judges in Nasriyah in 2008.”
*Believers in the Mahdi call—Trans.
#AfrijuAnhum (Free Them)
#AfrijuAnhum (Free Them)
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