Iran To Execute Dr Taheri Who It Tortured To Death In January?

Founder of a spiritual movement, writer and practitioner of alternative medicine theories of Faradarmani and Psymentology used in Iran and abroad, Mohammad Ali Taheri (who was serving a five-year prison sentence since October 2011 on charges of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’, blasphemy, and touching the wrists of female patients) was on August 1 sentenced to death by Iran’s “revolutionary court” on fresh charges of spreading “corruption on earth”.

US-based followers of his Interuniversal Mysticism (Erfan-e-Halqeh), an arts and culture institute he established in Tehran more than a decade ago, now claim to have learned from sources within Iran’s prison system that he actually starved himself to death in January. They accuse the country’s government of posthumously sentencing him to death to cover up his death from torture and hunger strike.

“I can confirm that Dr Mohammad Ali Taheri, the leader of our spiritual group has died while under torture and on hunger strike against his death penalty. The authorities have refrained from announcing the news to avoid a reaction from his supporters, the public and human rights organisations. Instead, they sentenced him to death in order to justify his announced death,” said Shahnaz Niroomanesh, California-based director of Erfan-e-Halqeh, who said she had learned of his death from sources that earlier smuggled a jail cell letter from Taheri to the UN.

A report carried by International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in February did mention that in November 2014, Taheri embarked on a dry hunger strike (in which a prisoner refuses both food and water) for 25 days to protest 3.5 years in isolation inside the IRGC’s Ward 2-A at Evin Prison.

According to Amnesty International, “Mohammad Ali Taheri has been serving his prison sentence entirely in solitary confinement and his repeated requests to be transferred to a cell shared with other inmates have been denied, leading him to undertake at least seven hunger strikes and attempt suicide four times. Except for a six-day period of leave in March 20 13, his interaction with the outside world has been limited to brief bi-weekly visits from his wife in a ‘cabin’ (behind a glass screen) and limited telephone calls, both of which have stopped since his wife was arrested on 2 July 2014 for a period of two weeks.”

These claims were, however, denied by his court-appointed lawyer, Alizadeh Tabatabaee – who Taheri had never met while in detention. In a statement to the Daily Telegraph, his office said, “Some while ago he [Tabatabaee] met with him [Taheri] in the Court of Revolution and a video film of this meeting, which was produced without the knowledge of the lawyer and his client by the security forces, is available to view on the Internet.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein had last week condemned the death penalty imposed on Taheri. “I call on the Iranian authorities to immediately withdraw the charges against Taheri and ensure his unconditional release. For an individual to be sentenced to death for peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, religion or belief is an absolute outrage – and a clear violation of international human rights law. It is unacceptable and a clear violation of international law for an individual to be imprisoned and condemned to death for peacefully exercising his rights to freedoms of religion and of expression,” he stated.

If he is live, is it justified to punish him for promoting values of peace, fraternity, and global understanding? Is it a noble way to honour the Law to sentence someone to death because of his seeking the truth through science and spirituality? Or is it just an excuse to execute someone whose thinking poses absolutely no threat to the State?

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