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There is no greater mitzvah than Redemption of Captives
Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Ani’im, Chapter 8, Article 10

IRAN UPDATE 28 - September 22, 2000

Toronto, September 22, 2000…After a day of contradictory reports, both in the Iranian media and the Western press, it appears that the reduction in the sentences announced by the Judiciary merely stemmed from a ruling that allowed the terms to be served concurrently rather than consecutively.

While the end result in terms of time to be served is the same, early reports from Iran had asserted that the appeals judges had actually overturned three of the convictions and called for a re-trial. There were other reports that two of the conviction categories were dismissed for all the defendants. Since these reports, which have since been denied, emanated from reputable sources within Iran, there is now speculation that the judges may well have expressed reservations suggestive of these outcomes privately. Indeed, local judiciary head Hossein Ali Amiri was quoted in the Iran News last August as saying that the judges were divided on “whether or not each of the charges is a legal violation…they have some differences about the number of charges”. Publicly, however, it seems that the authorities have decided not to make any public statement that could highlight the lack of evidence in the original trials. The ruling was thus merely cosmetic, an attempt to score points for “leniency” without losing face.

The sentence adjustments as announced by the Iran News Agency, are as follows:

• Danny Tefileen - 9 years (instead of 13)
• Asher Zadmehror - 7 years (instead of 13)
• Nasser Levi Haim 7 years (instead of 13)
• Ramin Farzam - 8 years (instead of 10)
• Javid Bent Yacoub - 6 years (instead of 9)
• Farhad Seleh - 6 years (instead of 8)
• Shahrokh Paknahad - 5 years (instead of 8)
• Farzad Kashi - 6 years (instead of 8)
• Faramarz Kashi - 3 years (instead of 5)
• Ramin Nematizadeh - 2 years (instead of 4)

Now that the Shiraz Court of Appeal has reached its decision, the avenues of recourse available to the defendants are application to the Prosecutor General within one month, or a further appeal to the Supreme Court of Iran.

While the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs has not yet issued a formal reaction to yesterday’s announcement, early discussions with officials indicated that our Government will not let this matter rest since none of its concerns have been addressed by the ruling. Canadian Embassy representatives from Tehran will be travelling to Shiraz this weekend in an attempt to gain clarification about the appeals decision and the entire process.

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