The Netherlands has hired two lawyers to defend the Dutch-Iranian woman Zahra Bahrami, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Ms Bahrami was sentenced to death in Iran for being in possession of drugs. A spokesperson for the ministry says the Netherlands will do its very best to prevent the death sentence from being carried out.
By Johan van der Tol and Sebastiaan Gottlieb
The two Iranian lawyers were assigned to the case once the death sentence was officially announced. Usually the Dutch government doesn’t pay legal expenses for Dutch citizens who are in prison abroad. The Netherlands only gives legal support when someone sentenced to death wants to appeal.
Dutch citizens sentenced to death abroad
Johannes van Damme, Singapore. Executed 23 September 1994. Convicted of smuggling heroin, had 4.32 kilograms in his suitcase. All efforts made to commute sentence, including a letter from Queen Beatrix to Singapore’s then President Ong Teng Cheong, were to no avail.
Pedro Ruyzing was sentenced to death in Thailand in 1995 for smuggling heroin. Sentence was commuted to life, and he has in the meantime returned to The Netherlands.
Ang Kiem Soei was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2003 for involvement in production of XTC. He is on death row on Nusa Kambangan.
Edy Tang and Li Yang, Chinese-born, Dutch citizens, were sentenced to death in Thailand in 2003. Sentence was commuted to life.
Roel Goosen, sentenced to death in 2004 in Zambia for murder. Sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Dick Nicolaas was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2006 for setting up an XTC factory on Java. Held on death row in a prison on the island of Nusa Kambangan.
Mesfin Aman is not a Dutch citizen, but he was studying in Haarlem. Sentenced to death in Ethiopia in 2009. He fled his native country in 2006, having been served jail time for opposition activities.
Zahrah Bahrami, an Iranian-born Dutchwoman, was arrested on a visit to Iran and sentenced to death in 2011 on charges of possession of drugs.
(Photo: hapal/FlickR)
Quiet diplomacy
Until now the Dutch government has used quiet diplomacy in order to put pressure on the Iranians over the Bahrami case. Ms Bahrami is now thought to have been transferred to the section for drug convicts at the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, according to the Iranian opposition website Free Messenger. This section mainly houses prisoners who are allowed less contact with the outside world than the other inmates.
Last weekend the Iranian authorities confirmed that Ms Bahrami has been sentenced to death. Those involved don’t expect an appeal to have much effect. According to the Iranian human rights activist Sadegh Naghaskar, “the only remaining hope is now that the Dutch government is prepared to put pressure on Iran”.
Until now Johannes van Damme was the only Dutch citizen to be sentenced to death. He was arrested in Singapore in 1991 and found guilty of smuggling heroin. Despite pleas for clemency from the Dutch government and a letter from Queen Beatrix, the President of Singapore remained unmoved. Mr Van Damme was executed by hanging in September 1994.
There are various examples of Dutch citizens abroad whose death sentence was commuted to a prison sentence. But usually it doesn’t pay to advertise these 'successes'. On the contrary, it may endanger the individual involved or insult the country in question.
Velvet glove
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urges countries to treat human rights violators not with a velvet glove approach, but by putting pressure on them. Harsh condemnations and sanctions are a better way to teach countries like Iran to respect human rights, HRW said in its annual report. "The ritualistic support or 'dialogue' and 'cooperation' with repressive governments is too often an excuse for doing nothing about human rights."
Firm condemnation
Dutch lawyer and former MP Boris Dittrich has worked since 2007 for HRW in New York. Too often there are commercial or other interests standing in the way of firm condemnation, he says.
”Against human rights violators such as North Korea we dare to say: what you do is wrong. That’s because we have few interests there. But when it comes to countries with which we have trade relations, you see that it’s already much harder."
Mr Dittrich condemns the death sentence on Ms Bahrami and others, including homosexuals, in Iran:
"Iran has a terrible legal system. Human Rights Watch released a report on it last month. It’s up to judges to decide on a death sentence for a defendant, regardless of whether there’s evidence or not. Iran must be constantly criticised for this."
The Dutch-Iranian human rights activist Sadagh Nagashkar, who is following the Bahrami case closely, also believes that quiet diplomacy does not work in this case, and says he told the the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that quiet diplomacy would never work.
Pressure for a Fair trial
The ministry has announced that the Netherlands continues to press for consular assistance and a fair trial for Ms Bahrami according to international legal norms. A ministry spokesperson says that the Netherlands is indeed critical of the human rights situation in Iran. "We also do this at EU level, which allows us to make more of an impact."
(hs/as)
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http://www.rahana.org/en/?p=9563
Zahra Bahrami executed
29 , January ,2011
Zahra Bahrami was executed this morning
Zahra Bahrami Iranian- dutch citizen who was arrested last january during the protests of the day of Ashura, was hanged this morning in Evin prison.
She was accused of collaboration with Kingdom Assembly of Iran (KAI), and kept in solitary for 10 months. She was tried last year and charged with drug trafficking and dealing which she accepted at first. but these accusations where later denied by her saying they were false and she was forced to accept them under physical and emotional torture and pressure.
"Besides, the discussion is not about whether this woman was guilty of a crime, or what punishment would be fitting. It's about the fundamental right to a fair trial, for any crime and anyone, anywhere.".........If the article was not about the guilt or punishment, then how can you say it is about the fundamental right to a fair trial? Point out the paragraph which discusses "fair trial". In the lead paragraph it stated "Ms Bahrami was sentenced to death in Iran for being in possession of drugs." and then the article mentioned eight other Dutch citizens sentence to death for murder and possession of drugs. Therefore the article was not about the fundamental right to a fair trial but about Dutch citizens who go abroad into other countries and are convicted and sentence to death sentences for illegal drugs and murder.
Ik heb a vraagje: Nederland, waarom haal u Ingabire niet uit de gevangenis in Rwanda? Ze is opgesloten door de dictator ten alle tijden KAGAME. Haar enigste zonde: het lef hebben om mee te doen aan de president verkiezingen in Rwanda. Een land geteisterd door "falsegetuigenisplaag". Je weet wel dat deze vrouw onschuldig is. Oh, Nederland! Laat nu zien dat u een democratie bent. U doet het voor Zahra Bahrami. Durf ook "nee" te zeggen tegen de dictator Kagame.
@Hiram1: equating drug trafficking to murder is unfair to victims of both murder and drug abuse. It would even be a stretch to call it as much as assisted suicide. You can no more accuse drug traffickers of murder than you would someone who sells knives or even pillows. Besides, the discussion is not about whether this woman was guilty of a crime, or what punishment would be fitting. It's about the fundamental right to a fair trial, for any crime and anyone, anywhere.
"You can no more accuse drug traffickers of murder than you would someone who sells knives or even pillows."...One can murder another human in may ways. If someone sells a knife or a pillow to someone and the person knows the buyer is going to murder someone with one of the objects or even both, the seller has the responsibility to report the buyer or become a party to the murder. If a drug trafficker sells a substance to someone that is known to be dangerous and causes death, the seller is just as guilty of murder. He knows it is illegal and dangerous. Unlike the pillow and knife which have multiple uses and are not illegal in most countries, the trafficker knows the drugs are going to be used internally by an addicted person who does not think rationally and therefore has a high probabilty of death for the user. No, people who traffick in drugs are dangerous and are party to the death of anyone to whom they sell drugs. It is the same as if they pulled the trigger, stabbed a person, or smothered a person with a pillow. There is a big difference in your comparison of people who sell kives/pillows with those who sell dangerous drugs.
ze is al vanochtend geexcuteerd, advocaten waren niet geinformeerd. procedure was niet afgerond. het is angstaanjagend dat nederlandse overheid niet voldoende druk heeft gebruikt tegen Iraanse overheid om dit tegen te houden.
If you have a propensity to murder and smuggle drugs, don't do it in a nation that has the death sentence. When you murder a citizen via weapons or drugs, you claim it is inhumane to execute you. If that is the case, what gives you the right to murder someone who wanted to live and enjoy life? Why does the E.U. care more about about the murderers, then it does with the victims? When there is no death sentence, those convicted of murder are free to murder officers and inmates freely. They are used in prisons as enforcers because you already gave them life and they know there is anything else you can do to them. Again, don't smuugle drugs and murder people in a nation that executes.
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