UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN MAY TRIGGER EXECUTIONS, AMNESTY WARNS

by Alison Langley

(IPS) -- Tehran is likely to execute seven condemned prisoners if the UN Security Council votes to impose sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, the rights watchdog Amnesty International says.

Iranian prison officials reportedly have told the men -- all of whom claim to be political prisoners -- they soon will die in retaliation for possible Security Council sanctions, said Amnesty's Kate Willingham.

The seven are members of the armed Peoples Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), which, in turn, is the largest constituent of the National Council of Resistance Iran (NCRI), an umbrella organization of dissident groups.

In August 2002, NCRI handed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) secret papers documenting Iran's nuclear programs in Natanz and Arak.

The documents were the first indication that Iran was working on a secret nuclear program. The Iranian government claims its work is to produce nuclear energy but IAEA officials worry that the goal is to develop nuclear weapons.

NCRI later revealed that the Iranian government also was working on a nuclear program in Abe-Ali and that it had spent at least $10 billion on nuclear projects over the last 18 years.

In 2003, the IAEA confirmed the existence of Iran's uranium enrichment program.

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran is allowed to develop a fuel cycle for nuclear power, but only under IAEA supervision.

Because it hid its enrichment program for nearly two decades, IAEA member states said they no longer trust the Iranian government and reported the matter to the UNSC.

"The Iranian government links the PMOI to the nuclear controversy," Willingham, a London-based campaigner on Iran, said in an e-mail." In this context, certain PMOI prisoners have claimed that they have been told that if Iran is referred to the UNSC over its nuclear program, they will be executed."

None of the men is believed to have been involved in the leaking of the secret documents, Willingham said. Still, she added, because of their membership in PMOI, she believed their lives are at risk.

In February, Hojjat Zamani, a PMOI member accused of planting a bomb outside a revolutionary court in Tehran in 1998, was hanged in Ghor Dasht prison just outside of Tehran.

Zamani was charged with "corruption on earth" (mafsad fil arz) and "enmity against God" (moharebeh) under Articles 183, 186 and 187 of Iran's penal code. Amnesty said it believed both charges to be "vaguely worded."

According to a PMOI statement, Zamani was severely tortured in detention. After Zamani's hanging, other prisoners have reportedly been told that they were next, Willingham said.

Among prisoners Amnesty believes to be at risk are: Sa'id Masouri, a PMOI member who has been held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison since late 2004; and Khaled Hardani, Farhang Pour Mansouri and Shahram Pour Mansouri, all of whom were involved in a 2001 plane hijacking.

In addition, Gholamhossein Kalbi and Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi, both PMOI members, and Alireza Karami Khairabadi also are believed to be at risk of imminent execution.

Of particular concern is the fate of Shahram Pour Mansouri because he was 17 when he allegedly committed a crime. Under international law, to which Tehran is a signatory, minors may not be executed.

Western diplomats in Tehran said they had not heard of any direct threats to PMOI prisoners. One European diplomat added that if Iran did retaliate by executing prisoners, "we will react very strongly."

Amnesty claims that state executions continue "at an alarming rate" in Iran. The human rights group recorded 94 executions in 2005, although the organization added that the true figure could be higher. So far, in 2006, the rights lobby has recorded some 28 executions in Iran.

This week, the Security Council failed to reach an agreement on the wording of any statement. Western members, led by Britain and France, want the council to list Tehran's failures to comply with IAEA demands and urge Iran to suspend any activity that could lead to nuclear weapons production.

Russia and China, both permanent members of the UNSC, prefer a shorter document that would simply underline UN support for the IAEA.

A senior Iranian official said Wednesday that U.S. pressure on the Security Council to penalize his country for its nuclear policy would not succeed. News agencies quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying that the "the irrational American view" would not prevail in the council.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is trying to build nuclear weapons.