Iran's Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence of a Wildlife Ranger

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Gholamhossein Khaledi, a wildlife ranger from the protected area of Dena, and has sent the case for re-examination to another branch. The Supreme Court had previously overturned Khaledi's death sentence three times and returned the case to the first branch of the criminal court in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, which had again ruled for his execution. Gholamhossein Khaledi has been detained in Yasuj Central Prison since July 25, 2010, on charges of murder. Reports indicate that during a confrontation in July 2010 between this ranger and several armed hunters at an altitude of 4,400 meters in Dena, a bullet fired from his weapon resulted in the death of a hunter named Mohammad Payeh-Khavar. The Iranian website for environmental monitoring and wildlife published the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday, February 30, stating that Khaledi used his weapon in accordance with 'legal regulations and standards.' In the ruling issued on February 1, the Supreme Court emphasized that Khaledi was a government agent performing his duties and is 'protected by the legislator according to the legal principle of dealing with offenders.' Khaledi's defense attorney described the Supreme Court's ruling regarding his client as 'a significant achievement' for wildlife rangers in Iran. Faizollah Afshar stated that the Supreme Court, as the highest judicial authority in the country, explicitly emphasized the legislator's support for wildlife rangers as judicial agents in the text of the ruling. He added that previously, in many courts across the country, including the court that issued Khaledi's qisas (retribution) sentence, wildlife rangers were not recognized as judicial agents. According to Afshar, this is despite the law explicitly declaring wildlife rangers as judicial officers and providing them with weapons accordingly. The overturning of Khaledi's sentence comes at a time when the Supreme Court had confirmed the death sentence of another wildlife ranger, Asadollah Taghizadeh, in October 2011. Reports indicate that Taghizadeh shot at a hunter during an armed confrontation with several hunters in the Dena region in 2007, resulting in the hunter's death due to injuries sustained.