Iran executes Kurdish 'political prisoner': Report

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran has executed a Kurdish man, described as a political prisoner by activists and human rights monitors, for membership in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of the country.

According to rights groups, Mohayyedin Ebrahimi, 43, was hanged at dawn at Urmia prison, located along the Shahar River on the Urmia Plain. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Hengaw rights groups confirmed the death of  Ebrahimi in separate statements.

The Kurdish man was arrested in 2017 during a clash with Iranian border guards where he was shot in the leg. Subsequently, he was sentenced to death the following year. The Iranian authorities accused him of being part of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, a banned group by the Iranian authorities. Reportedly, the party waged a persistent guerrilla war against the Iranian government.

Ebrahimi denied all the allegations. He was imprisoned for over five years. According to rights groups, Ebrahimi was working as a kolbar, a semi-legal porter transporting goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran and from Iraq. According to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the man was a political prisoner.

On Thursday, Ebrahimi met with his family for the last time. Later on, he was transferred to solitary confinement. On Friday, his family was called to collect his body.

Amnesty International, an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, slammed Ebrahimi’s execution. The NGO, with more than ten million members and supporters around the world, criticized his “unfair” trial.

According to AFP, five other men were also executed over drug-related charges at the Urmia prison on Friday. According to rights groups, the Iranian authorities executed at least 94 people in January and February 2023. Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, an Iranian human rights monitor, said that most of them were minorities. Amnesty accused the Iranian authorities of using the death penalty to suppress minorities in the country.