Babak Paknia: Transferring witness to torture of Navid Afkari to NAJA is illegal
Babak Paknia, Shahin Naseri's lawyer, witnessed the torture of Navid Afkari, who was executed in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz on September 12. In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights, he reported that he had been transferred to the Naja Information Center without any information about his condition since September 11, and expressed concern about his client's unknown condition.
Mr. Paknia, who was introduced as Shahin Naseri's lawyer by his family, told the campaign that since September 11, when he was transferred to NAJA's information center, Mr. Naseri has only had a very brief contact with his father-in-law once, in which he reported on his physical health, but his family does not know where he is being held.
Babak Paknia told the campaign: "I asked my colleague to deliver the power of attorney to the prison. Generally, when you deliver the power of attorney to the prison, the person delivering it checks to see if there is actually a prisoner in that prison or not, and if not, they will not receive it from you. But if there is, they will write on the power of attorney the ward in which the prisoner is present. They wrote Saadat on our power of attorney. That is, Mr. Naseri is in Saadat ward and they said that we will let him sign the power of attorney and come and collect it tomorrow. The next day, however, my colleague who went to deliver the power of attorney was told that Shahin Naseri was not here and they wrote on the power of attorney that he was delivered to the NAJA Intelligence Service on September 12, by order of the First Branch of the Shiraz Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office. This is while Mr. Naseri was serving a sentence for what they say was fraud and had not committed any new crime or action to be transferred from the general ward to the NAJA Intelligence Service, and my guess is that it is definitely related to the Navid Afkari case because there is no other reason.
He called Shahin Naseri's transfer to NAJA's information illegal and told the campaign: "We will definitely go to Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office and pursue the signing of the power of attorney, but what they have done is completely against the law. All over the world, legal principles say that the judicial system must create conditions so that witnesses can come safely and testify to discover the truth. In many cases, they even hide the identity of witnesses who may have something happen to them, but our judicial system itself threatens the witness in some way, and these actions are not right on the part of the judiciary. Now that the judicial system is doing this, no one will be willing to testify at all from tomorrow."
Babak Paknia told the campaign: "When the Chief Justice says it's prison, but I send a power of attorney, prison, and they write on my power of attorney that it's not, what are these lies for? It's true that he doesn't have another case, I don't have any written documents, but the experience is clear and it's very obvious that they won't take one person away, so they'll take the information out of the country."
Shahin Naseri is a prisoner in Shiraz Prison who, while the judiciary denied any torture against Navid Afkari, testified that he had witnessed his torture. However, the Chief Justice of Fars Province described Shahin Naseri as a forger and a fraudster and denied any testimony he had given about the torture of Navid Afkari.
In an audio file released from part of Navid Afkari’s trial, he says that there is a forensic report about his torture and that he has witnesses to support his claim. However, the judge in the case rejects his request to summon the witness of his torture at the Shiraz Intelligence Department, saying: “There is no need. If the court finds out, it will investigate. You don’t know how to investigate. Even if we don’t pay attention and don’t investigate, the Supreme Court will investigate.”
Shahin Naseri testified in the witness investigation sheet that “the gentleman who was above Navid said that everything I said was true, and I don’t know his name, and I think he was a person with colored eyes, a red and white face, with full shoulders and hair that I think he had planted and combed up, and Navid’s hand was on his head. He struck Navid’s hand four times and used obscenities and said with obscenities that what I said was true.”
He wrote that “Navid was lying on his side on the floor with his hand on his head, begging not to be beaten. When we entered the detention center, I saw Navid and his hand was swollen and bruised. Navid said that Captain Abbasi had broken my hand. I witnessed Navid’s suffering and distress over his broken hand for almost two months while I was in custody. In addition, I saw the blow to his hand myself.”
Shahin Naseri also stated in an audio file that “One day, I heard shouting and begging in the hallway at the intelligence center. My companion captain asked me to stand in the hallway until he returned and went to open the door of a room. Out of curiosity, I went to see what was going on. I saw two people in civilian clothes in a room, swearing and beating Navid mercilessly with a baton and pipe. They were telling him that everything we say is true. Are you writing down what we say or not? Navid was also begging me not to hit him, but I did nothing. He was also putting his hands on his head. One of the officers, whose name I later learned was Abbasi, hit him on the hand in such a way that Navid let out a loud scream and passed out. I testified in three prosecutors about this. When I went to testify at the Security Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, the branch investigator asked what did you see in the intelligence center? I explained what I saw. The investigator said in a bad tone, “You "You are interfering in the security case. I will expose your father. I will force these same agents to sue you for slander and defamation. I will melt you."
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
