A/HRC/13/40/Add.1 5. (a) Urgent appeal sent on 28 April 2009 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Allegations transmitted to the Government 147. The Special Rapporteurs brought to the attention of the Government information they had received regarding the execution of Mr. Mehdi Qasemzadeh, a follower of the Ahl-e Haqq religion, and the possibly imminent execution of another member of the group, Mr. Yunes Aghayan. Both men were reportedly convicted on charges of “mohareb” (“enmity against God”) on the basis of their participation in clashes between the police and Ahl-e Haqq followers in 2004. 148. In September 2004, clashes between members of a group of Ahl-e Haqq and police resulted in the death of five Ahl-e Haqq members and at least three police officers. Apparently, the clashes were triggered by the refusal of Ahl-e Haqq followers to take down religious slogans at the entrance to their cattle farm in Uch Tepe, West Azerbaijan Province. 149. In the following months, members of Ahl-e Haqq were arrested and charged with “mohareb”; Mr. Yunes Aghayan was arrested around November 2004. Five men, Mr. Yunes Aghayan, Mr. Mehdi Qasemzadeh, Mr. Sehend Ali Mohammadi, Mr. Bakhshali Mohammadi, and Mr. Ebadollah Qasemzadeh were tried before Branch 2 of the Mahabad Revolutionary Court and sentenced to death. The death sentences against Mr. Yunes Aghayan and Mr. Mehdi Qasemzadeh were upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2005. The death sentences against Mr. Sehend Ali Mohammadi, Mr. Bakhshali Mohammadi, and Mr. Ebadollah Qasemzadeh were overturned by the Supreme Court in September 2007. They are serving 13-year prison sentences in Yazd Province. 150. Mr. Mehdi Qasemzadeh was executed on, or around, 28 February 2009. Mr. Yunes Aghayan is reportedly held on death row in Oromieh Prison in West Azerbaijan Province. 151. The Special Rapporteurs indicated in their letter that, although the death penalty was not prohibited under international law, it had long been regarded as an extreme exception to the fundamental right to life, and must as such be interpreted in the most restrictive manner. Article 6, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party, provides that the “sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law”. As the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions had explained in previous communications, the imposition of the death sentence on charges of “mohareb” was highly problematic. The Special Rapporteurs expressed their concerns that this charge, which according to information received was directed in the Islamic Republic of Iran mainly against political dissidents, critics of the Government and persons accused of espionage, might not be sufficiently well defined to satisfy the very strict standards of legality set by article 6, paragraph 2, of the Covenant for the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty. In order for the sentence of death to be imposed “in accordance with the law”, the law in question must be sufficiently precise to clearly allow distinction between conduct punishable with the capital sentence and conduct not so punishable. The Special Rapporteurs also referred to previous communications (A/HRC/4/20/Add.1, pages 165 et seq.; A/HRC/8/3/Add.1, pages 210 et seq.; and A/HRC/11/2/Add.1, pages 199 et seq.). 152. The Special Rapporteurs asked the Government to indicate the specific conduct Mr. Yunes Aghayan and Mr. Mehdi Qasemzadeh were found guilty of, the legal basis of the death sentences imposed against them and how these are compatible with international norms, specifically with article 6, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In this context, the Special Rapporteurs also asked the Government to explain the definition of “mohareb” under Iranian law. 39