Zahra Bahrami | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1965-01-25)25 January 1965 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | 29 January 2011(2011-01-29) (aged 46) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Known for | Political Prisoner |
Zahra Bahrami, also spelledSahra Baahrami (Persian:زهرا بهرامی; 25 January 1965 – 29 January 2011) (Previous name:Zahra Mehrabi), was adualDutch andIranian citizen who was executed in Iran after being arrested during a political protest, and later convicted by theIslamic Revolutionary Court fordrug trafficking. She was initially arrested in December 2009 for participating in theAshura protests and charged with national security offenses as well as for being a member ofKingdom Assembly of Iran. However, according to the Iranian Judicatory, a subsequent search of her house uncovered 450 grams ofcocaine, 420 grams ofopium, and several forged passports. Subsequently, the Tehran prosecutors charged her with drug trafficking and being a member of an international drug-trafficking network, for which she received a death sentence.
In protest at her execution, theDutch Ministry of Foreign affairs temporarily froze diplomatic contacts with Iran, but resumed on 18 February 2011.
Bahrami was born inTehran, Iran. She later moved to theNetherlands and became aDutch citizen by naturalisation. However, she also retained herIranian citizenship.[1] In one passport, she spelled her name Zahra Bahrami, while spelling it Sahra Baahrami in the other.[2] She worked as a professional belly dancer and maintained a second residence inLondon.[3]
According to a TV show aired on Dutch broadcasting network NOS, Bahrami was found guilty of smuggling nearly 16 kilos of cocaine from the Caribbean in her luggage in 2003.
She was sentenced to three years in jail with one being suspended, according to the current affairs show Nieuwsuur.[4][5]
In 2009, Bahrami traveled from the Netherlands to Iran, claiming that the purpose of her visit was to see one of her children. While participating in theAshura protests of the2009 Iranian elections on 27 December 2009, she was arrested, and held inTehran'sEvin Prison. Iranian prosecutors initially said she belonged to the militant monarchist groupKingdom Assembly of Iran, and charged her with setting up an anti-regime organization and spreading anti-regime propaganda. However, she was not charged on these accounts, and most other protesters were released in the following days. Due to the two variant spellings of her name, the MFA was initially unable to confirm whether or not she was a Dutch citizen, and were able to confirm this by July 2010. Due to Iran not recognizingdual citizenship, Iran did not allow the Dutch consulate to provide legal assistance to her.[2]
Tehran prosecutors charged her with the capital crime of drug trafficking. Prosecutors stated that anti-drug police had uncovered 450 grams (16 oz) of cocaine and 420 grams (15 oz) of opium during a raid on her home.
During a media interview, her daughter claimed that the charges were fabricated because Bahrami "did not even smoke cigarettes."[1][6]
Prominent human rights lawyerNasrin Sotoudeh acted as Bahrami's defense attorney. However, on 28 August 2010, Sotoudeh's office was raided; it was unclear whether the raid had anything to do with Bahrami's case, or with Sotoudeh's other human rights activities.[7] Sotoudeh herself was arrested days later, and also imprisoned at Evin.[8] In January 2011, Soutodeh was sentenced to 6 years in prison for "acting against national security" and banned from working as a lawyer and leaving the country for 10 years.
After her appeal to Iran's Supreme Court was turned down, Iran executed Bahrami byhanging on 29 January 2011 (at 5am) in the execution chamber atEvin Prison. She became the 66th person to receivecapital punishment in Iran in 2011. Her lawyer said she was shocked that the death sentence on the drugs charges had been carried out before an investigation on the security charges against her was even completed.[1]
In protest of her execution, the Dutch government froze contact with the Iranian government. The Dutch foreign ministerUri Rosenthal said he was "shocked, shattered by this act by a barbaric regime."[9] Bahrami's lawyers were not contacted by officials from the Dutch embassy in Tehran until two weeks before the verdict since the Netherlands only provides financial and legal support in cases of this kind if the death sentence has formally been pronounced and the defendant has appealed against the sentence.[10] TheInternational Campaign for Human Rights in Iran also protested her execution, quoting an unnamed "informed source" as saying that her interrogation was conducted by the "Iranian Intelligence Ministry’s Anti-Espionage Team" rather than narcotics trafficking officials, rendering nil the "possibility that her initial charges were drug-related."[11]Dutch-Iranian diplomatic ties resumed on 18 February 2011.[12]
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