[PROVISIONAL EXCERPT TRANSLATION FROM ARABIC] (For the original Arabic language version, click here)

[Translator’s notes appear in square brackets [ ].]

At the specialized criminal division at the capital

Subject: Memo of the prosecution’s response to the justifications for appeal of primary sentence no. 16, dated 1439 Hijri, produced by the Court of First Instance of the capital.

[The Prosecutor provides case number, information and date]

The Appellant: Convicted person Hamed Shirazi Kamali – imprisoned

Against appellant: Public Criminal Prosecution specialized in the capital

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First: The proceedings of the case and the first-instance trial judgment, which was previously mentioned and present from the initial memo and which was based in the papers that follow.

Second: Reasons for the appeal and the response to them:

1. In terms of form, going back to the first-instance sentence produced on 2 January 2018, which sentenced the appellant to the death penalty, it appeared that the appellant filed for his appeal of the first-instance sentence once it was produced at the initial court which produced the sentence.  That is based on Report no. 33, dated 2 January 2018, enclosed in the case file, which requires a written report, and (as has been the case) acceptance of the reasons of the appellant in the form and a response within the time specified by the law—25 days from the date of the appeal, based on what has been stated in the provisions of Articles 411 – 421, a to c, and Articles 500 – 509, in terms of general instructions.

2. In terms of content/substance, based on the reasoning of the appeal, we find that it [criticizes] the trial judgment as invalid, owing to ignorance and delusion, and it does not affect the case at all (given the evidence provided); neither does it affect the evidence of this case or the validity and integrity of the primary sentence, for the following reasons:

1. The appellant and his lawyers started by providing a structured, prolonged introduction and a needless and incoherent speech, which does not touch upon the reality of the case and the facts obtained about the appellant, and which is void of coherence.  That is because the case concerns criminal acts of grave danger, which target religion and belief and the nation, and deeply threaten the independence of the Republic of Yemen and its unity and the health of its lands. [This] obligates him to return to [accuracy] and stop indulging in falsehoods, and to stop all the pens involved in defending the enemy and instructing [people] to leave Islám, religion, and the love of the nation, no matter what the financial reward might be.  After all, we are, first and foremost, Muslims; converting from Islám is apostasy, which requires punishment. Taking advantage of people and making them leave Islám is a crime and requires punishment. By violating the inviolability/privacy of the nation and its sovereignty, the aggressor traveled and was supported by [the] aggression. [No] Yemeni who is defensive towards his country and religion allows himself to be infected and to support and defend aggression and the aggressors.  Aggression is injustice, and infringement is injustice, and whoever helps the unjust and wrongfully defends their rights is [denied] the protection of God, the Almighty, and His Prophet, as [was declared] by the Prophet. Based on that, the reasons provided by the appellant in his unjust introduction justifying aggression and egregious criminal acts targeting the nation, religion and belief, must be opposed and ignored, and this is what the prosecution is affirming to the court, and God is the Arbiter.

2. What the appellant and his lawyers have provided is general verbal fabrication and baseless, invalid assumption.  The sentence produced in this case is considered one of the most correct and just judgments, based on the proofs and reasons which justify convicting a painful criminal reality.  [The sentence] supports the accusations against the appellant, [which are] further supported by truthful evidential proofs that are indubitable. The appellant, with his good common sense, was truthful from the start as he considered that his faith, despite its falsehood, prevented him from lying, and that’s why he clarified his words and the details of his confessions, which confirms the validity and the statement of his sentence as it complies with the law, which can be referred back to, and does not need to be repeated.  What is worthy of noting is that the appellant, after meeting some human demons and the lawyers, left his beliefs and religion, as his forefathers had done, by leaving Islám. He repudiated the truth and based his repudiation on [fabrications] and statements which contradict the truth and reality, as well as what the accused himself provided to the police and the prosecution. Based on that, those statements and exposed fabrications cannot be accepted. What was done by the appellant [in] low acts of aggression on the nation, religion and belief cannot be justified.  His established confessions are written in official memos, and he cannot appeal them except by forgery. We ask the Almighty to sanctify the minds of the people so that they will return to their religion and beliefs, and ask that we will all die with Islám.

Any denial provided by [the lawyers], when the appellant has confessed to crime which is supported by the investigation process with the police and the prosecution, and given that the crime is continuing and is witnessed with all the confiscated material evidence belonging to the accused, confirms his detailed confessions of crime—and consequently, the justness of the primary sentence.  And the reasons and justification of the appeal and the fabricated defence to prove the enemy’s and the aggressor’s innocence cannot be accepted and do not have any basis in reality. What is hoped is that they will examine their conscience, religion and belief and return to the truth by repenting to God, the Almighty, and feel remorse before it is too late, because returning to righteousness is better than persisting in falsehood.  

The nation today is facing the greatest conspiracies and the aggressors who are targeting the land, the nation, the religion and Islamic beliefs at its core, and any justification for the enemy and the aggressor, or the effort to the defend them, is considered, in the first place, a betrayal of the country and a support for injustice, and the aggression on nation, religion and faith is a crime that requires punishment.  Every Yemeni must be ardent [in his support of] his nation and must not support injustice and the ones attacking his land and nation, religion and faith, no matter what. We are Muslims; how did we allow ourselves to participate in aggression and with the aggressors, and justify their actions, when it [will target] the nation, religion and the Islamic faith, until the accused appellant [was] captured from the Yemeni lands with his forged documents while he was establishing a national homeland for the Baha’i faith on Socotra, as he confessed?  His documents and confiscated belongings confirm that, and confirm the validity of what the primary sentence was supported by. All of this confirms the response to the appeal and [justifies] [ignoring] it, and directs the appellant and the defence attorney to return to righteousness, because righteousness is a virtue and returning to righteousness is better than remaining in falsehood.

3. The reasons provided by the appellant [alleged] that the Baha’i faith is a religion that was established in 1260 (Hijri), and that it does not belong to any group which is fighting Yemen, or to a hostile country; that it was established prior to Israel and that it does not have any relation to Israel.  In response to that, what the appellant and the defence attorney have provided is considered a fabricated fallacy with the intention to escape the punishment. The Baha’i faith was initiated with a satanic thought that emerged in the mind of its initial founder, Ali Mohammad Reza al-Shirazi, who titled himself the Báb and claimed that he was the door to the sky, and he was from a Muslim descendant.   He first claimed that the spirit of the Mehdi was embodied in his soul, and his message developed later on to claim that he was the Mehdi, after which he [claimed] to be a prophet from God and that his soul and body embodied all the prophets. So, one day he [would] be an Abrahamic, another day he [would] be of Moses, and another day he [would] be of Jesus or Mohammad, based on his claims. His claim evolved to say that he was better than the Prophet of God, Mohammad, and that his “qur’án”, which he received from the sky and named the Bayan, was better than the Qur’án, and [the Bayan] copied the verses of the Qur’án.  When his call was heard, he was threatened with punishment for apostasy, so he announced his regret and remorse and repented at the mosque on Friday, after which his lies were exposed, and he was killed after having a number of Muslims accept his call, and he was supported by the Russian Consul in Iran and the Jews, and he was supported by [Qorat al-Ayn] through various speeches, where they established leaving Islám by lies and statements that violate the Sharia. The one who took over the banner after him was Yahya Ali Noori and his brother Hussein Ali Noori, who is titled Bahá or Bahá’u’lláh. They were exiled to Iraq, then to Turkey, then to Palestine, and the alliance between them and the Jews was hidden in secret, until they reached ‘Akká in Palestine, where they announced their alliance with the Jews, and where it was required to allocate the Quds in Palestine as a national homeland for the Jews who assisted [Bahá’u’lláh] to spread his religion and beliefs as wide as possible and who promised him to allocate Socotra as a nation homeland for the Bahá’í faith.  The appellant and his father were executing that Bahá’í Jewish plan in the field and they were endeavouring with all their power to occupy Yemen and allocate Socotra as a nation homeland for the Bahá’í faith. That is the firm truth presented in the papers that the appellant confirmed by his words at the police [station] and to the prosecution, and which was confirmed by the confiscated belongings and what the United Arab Emirates is doing today to Yemeni lands and Socotra. Yes, the appellant and those supporting him from Israel and countries of transgression today have committed criminal acts that threatened the independence of Yemen and its unity and the safety of its lands, as had their leader, Iblis, may God’s curse be upon him.  All of them are spreading corruption in the land, but they will fail because God has promised to defeat them and [cause them] loss, as it is said in the verse: “And those who argue concerning Alláh after He has been responded to, their argument is invalid with their Lord, and upon them is [His] wrath, and for them is a severe punishment”; as well as the Almighty’s statements, “They want to extinguish the light of Alláh with their mouths, but Alláh will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.  It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although those who associate others with Alláh dislike it.”  Based on that, all that has been mentioned clarifies that the appellant and his ancestors were [members of] the Islamic (the right) religion and they converted from Islám (and motivated others to convert, too) and until today, they are [still] motivating Muslims to commit apostasy, and they have joined the Jews against the Muslims and the free Yemenis in the first instance, and today, other countries have joined them to commit acts of aggression, and travelled to Yemen with the intention of weakening the Yemeni abilities and killing the Yemenis and plundering the goods of Yemen and occupying its lands, including allocating Socotra as a nation homeland for the Bahá’í faith.  This cause favours the nullification of the reasons of the appellant and validates the general case in its entirety (in terms of admission, accusations and support) and in terms of the soundness of the primary sentence in its reasons and merits and the operative part, and this is what the prosecution is holding onto and requesting that it be confirmed.

4. The appellant and his defence attorney have previously presented to the prosecution and the primary court all their reasons and defence and [these] have been legally dismissed.  Their appeal came in the form of repetition of what had been provided before and entirely dismissed. Finally, it is clear, based on what has been mentioned, and what the primary sentence encompasses, that the Bahá’í faith and the appellant are a fighting group and an ally of Israel and other countries of aggression, and have allied with the Jews and other supporting enemies of the [Islamic] religion and land since its establishment.  The greatest proof of this is what our wounded country is facing today from control and transgression on the land and religion, including the attempts of the United Arab Emirates today to fight and control Socotra from far away because they want to accomplish the Israeli dream, which is to establish a national homeland of this ill-omened religion based on what the appellant has admitted, and this material evidence today confirms that. The accused appellant and the United Arab Emirates—in which he has citizenship—and Israel are endeavouring to accomplish this goal, and they will not attain it unless Iblis enters heaven, and this is [impossible] because God the Almighty has promised that they will be defeated and will fail by saying, “Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of Alláh.  So they will spend it; then it will be for them a [source of] regret, and they will be overcome. And those who have disbelieved, unto Hell they will be gathered.” Almighty God has spoken truly—as [in the] Almighty’s saying, “They want to extinguish the light of Alláh with their mouths, but Alláh [will] perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Alláh dislike it.” God the Almighty has truly spoken (7-8) from the As-Saf [sic].  Yes, the religion of God is Islám and Islám is the religion of truth, and it is best for the appellant and his lawyers to return to righteousness and repent to God the Almighty; this is what we advise ourselves and them continually, and it is from God that assistance is taken.

The requests from the prosecution are:

First: In terms of form, accept the reasons provided by the appellant as it adhered to the [standard] .

Second: In terms of the subject/content, [reject] the reasons provided by the appellant based on what has been mentioned, and confirm the primary judgment which conforms to the provision and the law.

The Public Prosecution

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