E/CN.4/2000/16
page 36
he went back to Iran to sell his property. Arrested on arrival, he was tried in April 1994 and
sentenced to death for having maintained links with “Zionism”. The sentence was then reduced
to life imprisonment and he was ultimately released; this demonstrated that the charges were
groundless.
(b)
Mekukabed Fisolla, a 77-year-old Jew, was arrested on his way to the synagogue
in May 1992. He was accused of “contacts with Zionism” and spying for Israel, whereas he had
only been keeping up a correspondence with his family, which had emigrated to Israel a few
years before. He was executed in Iran in February 1994.
(c)
On 17 June 1996, a 60-year-old Jew, Azizulla Lamé, was hanged in his store in
Tehran. The killers said that the Court of Allah had ordered them to hang him.
(d)
On 29 December 1996, Hadiat Allahzandahal and Abd El Kassem Magid Abrai,
two Iranian Jews, were accused of having tried to organize an anti-Islamic revolution and of
spying on behalf of the United States and Israel. They were both hanged.
(e)
On 21 June 1998, an Iranian Jew, Rouholla Kadkhoda Zade, who lived in Tehran,
was executed by hanging for having been a “Zionist agent”.
Government reply
153.
No reply has been received to date.
V. FOLLOW-UP TO FIELD VISITS: LEGISLATIVE, JUDICIAL OR OTHER
MEASURES TAKEN OR ENVISAGED BY GOVERNMENTS
A. South Africa
154. The South African Government has adopted a number of measures to combat xenophobia
and residual forms of racism and racial discrimination. A vigorous campaign and a plan of
action based on the theme “Roll Back Xenophobia” has been launched with the aim of reversing
the tendency to be hostile to foreigners prevalent in South African society and of making for
better coexistence with foreigners. The plan of action was designed by the National Consortium
on Refugee Affairs, the South African Human Rights Commission and the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; during 1999-2000 it will be focused on the
development of awareness of and education in human rights. This will be a multimedia
campaign including the use of all available forms of communication such as television,
print media, radio and the Internet. Other interventions will include workshops for the
police and civil servants, educators and journalists; letters and articles written to internal
publications targeting the above-mentioned groups as well as newspaper articles and letters
to politicians. Intervention for 2001 will focus on expanding on the activities of 2000. The
campaign focus will be on hawkers, migrant workers, refugees and asylum-seekers, and the
aim will be to facilitate local integration of refugees and migrants in South Africa.
155. As regards measures to combat racism and racial discrimination, the South African
Human Rights Commission has completed a study entitled “Racism, racial integration and