ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian authorities on Tuesday executed two Kurdish prisoners held on charges of "armed rebellion" and alleged links to the Islamic State (ISIS), a Norway-based human rights monitor reported.
Mohieddin Abdollahi and Hossein Palani Jaf, Kurdish men from Iran’s western Kermanshah province, were executed at dawn in Kermanshah central prison, Hengaw Organization for human rights reported on Tuesday.
The pair, detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since 2018, were accused of operating as members of ISIS cells in Iran's western border regions and sentenced to death on charges of baghi, armed rebellion against the state.
Iranian judiciary’s media outlet Mizan confirmed the executions but did not disclose where they were carried out. Neither Mizan nor Hengaw provided further details about the judicial process that led to their convictions.
Their capital punishment comes amid Hengaw’s reports of a sharp rise in executions across Iran in July. The IRGC frequently detains individuals on charges of baghi, a charge commonly used against protestors who took part in nationwide demonstrations in January, particularly after late February when the US and Israel launched a large-scale military campaign against Iran.
Minorities such as Kurds in western Iran, who make up a disproportionate number of those detained, are frequently targeted for fear that the US war against Iran emboldens them to incite their own armed rebellion against the state.
Human rights organizations have warned about the high number of executions carried out by Tehran, describing them as a tool of repression used to silence dissent.
In a report published on July 4, the rights group said at least 109 prisoners were executed in June, including five political prisoners, among whom two were Kurdish.
According to Hengaw, Kurdish prisoners accounted for 18 of the executions carried out in June, while only seven of the 109 executions were officially announced by Iranian authorities. The group also said 12 prisoners were executed without prior notice to their families or a final visit.
