Press TV: I would like to ask you about the recent execution of five convicts which received wide coverage in the international media.

Prosecutor Jafari Dolatabadi: We issued a comprehensive announcement on the day of the executions on May 09, 2010 and the details about this issue were published in our national media.

The five executed convicts were all Iranians and four of them were Kurdish. They were all accused and convicted of bombing and terrorist activities.

The first three suspects were Farzad Kamangar, Farhad Vakili and Ali Heydarian. In 2006 in Tehran, police suspected Kamangar's car and stopped him. They ran away. The police searched the car and found bombs and explosives. Further investigations lead the police to the city of Sanandaj where they arrested Vakili and Heydarian. In the homes of all three suspects, the police found about 17 kilos of explosives, bombing equipment, RPG bullets, and other combat weapons and ammunition. They had managed to blow up two commercial and state facilities in the city of Kermanshah and then moved to Tehran, where they were preparing for their next terrorist activity. However, they accidentally got stopped by the police and their residence in Tehran was revealed.

They all had fake IDs and took orders from certain people in Turkey. They were planning to carry out more explosions in Tehran, but their being stopped by the police hampered their plans. Kamangar, Vakili and Heydarian all confessed that they were active members of PJAK, an armed group that has officially confirmed their armed activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

After their execution, their leader confirmed their membership of PJAK during an interview with western media.

According to article 186 of the Islamic penal code in Iran, one of the punishments for any member or supporter of an existing armed group against the Islamic Republic, who acts in favor and on behalf of that group effectively, can be execution.

Today the headquarters of PJAK exist and they have officially declared armed uprising against the Islamic Republic of Iran and they have also claimed responsibility for several bombings and explosions and they believe that they should launch an armed war on Iran.

As mentioned before, according to article 186, one of the penalties for armed enemies of the state is capital punishment.

Of course, the three men had all carried out bombings, possessed combat weapons, explosives, ammunition and fake identifications. They all had planted and detonated bombs in different cities and were planning further bombings and all these facts made article 186 applicable to them.

Ms. Shirin Alamhouli -- who was not cooperating with Kamangar, Vakili, and Heydarian at the time -- was arrested by the police in Azadi square in Tehran. She had plans to blow up a military base belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). She refused to disclose her identity for some time after her arrest, but later admitted to her membership in PJAK. In addition, PJAk issued an official announcement for its part and confirmed her membership.

Despite what some people claim, Ms. Alamhouli was not executed because of being a woman. Like wise, the other three were not executed because they were Kurdish. We do not hold grudges against any particular group or individual. By and large, we take pride in our judiciary system under which Kurds, Lurs (another Iranian ethnic minority), Arabs, or Fars people are all treated equally. As a result, the media propaganda which suggested that the convicts were executed because of being a member of the Kurdish community or because of being a woman is baseless.

The first three were arrested in 2006 and their verdicts were delivered in 2008. At that time, the appeal court verdicts were confirmed by the Supreme Court of Iran. Later, it was decided that the Provincial Appeal Court could also review execution decrees issued by the appeal court.

It took four years for the whole conviction procedure to be complete. the whole process included conducting investigations, holding appeal court sessions, and hearing objections. The verdicts were then passed on to the convicts' attorneys. The executions took place exactly 18 months after the last verdict was passed on to the country's Supreme Court. They had enough time to appeal the verdicts and could even use article 18 of the Constitution, as mentioned by certain media. Under this article, the offenders could ask for pardon and stay in confinement for indefinite years for the case to be resolved. The convicts are usually provided with a wide range of options in such cases.

One more thing I have to explain is that there was no connection between these executions and the unrest following the June presidential election in Iran.

These convicts were terrorists who were arrested in 2006 and the time gap until their execution was granted so that they could ask for pardon. Meanwhile, if no call is made by the convict himself asking for a court of appeal, the judiciary system and the prosecutor would execute the final verdict.

Therefore, the widely-circulated claim that the convicts were executed because of being Kurdish is a blatant lie. As I explained before, the whole procedure for the trial of these five lasted four years, and it took 18 months for the ruling to be put into effect. Everything I just said is based on documented proof.

The brother of Mahdi Eslamian was involved in a bombing last year in Vessal Mosque in Shiraz, which killed some of our fellow countrymen. This is while certain reports claimed that he was executed for owing 2,000,000 Rials (nearly 200 US dollars). The story is baseless.

I have explained this before and once again I repeat here that anyone who is an active member or supporter of armed terrorist groups -- which act against the Islamic Republic of Iran - will be sentenced to death.

Those who claim Eslamian was executed for owing 2,000,000 Rials are mistaken. Based on the country's constitution, any member or any active supporter of terrorist groups could face execution. Even those who provide financial support for such groups will be executed.

Some people even tried to help Mahdi Eslamian flee the country from the southern island of Kish. Eslamian's case was highly sensitive and was carried out with special care.

Certain media reports which only seek to undermine Iran's prosecution system claim a Fars (Eslamian) was put on trial with four Kurds with the sole purpose of diverting public attention from the execution of four Kurdish convicts.

Since the charges against them were related to bombing attempts, their executions were carried out all at the same time. There has not been a single person among these five who has not been convicted for terrorist acts. We strongly reject accusations leveled by certain media outlets, claiming that innocent people were executed in Iran. The accusation is flatly denied. These convicts were armed and carried out acts of terrorism and bombings across the country any chance they got. They were all arrested during police patrols.

The execution verdicts should be carried out at some point and prosecutors should go on with their rulings. In any case, the timing of the executions is likely to draw criticism from certain fronts. However, there exists no connection between the timing of the execution and the upcoming anniversary of last year's unrest following the June presidential election. Certain reports have been trying to link these two events.

 http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=126741

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