Iran executes Kurdish prisoner
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ramin Hossein Panahi was executed by Iran early Saturday morning, his brother confirmed.
There are reports that two other Kurdish prisoners on death row, Loghman Moradi and Zanyar Moradi, have also been executed.
Panahi was hanged at 5:00 Saturday morning in Iran’s Rajaee Shahr Prison west of Tehran, his brother Amjad Hossein Panahi confirmed to Rudaw English.
“And we have not received back his body yet,” he said.
A member of the Kurdish party Komala, Panahi was arrested in June 2017 during a confrontation with security forces. Iranian authorities allege he was armed at the time.
Panahi denied the charge.
Membership in opposition parties like Komala does not carry the death sentence.
Human rights organization Hengaw reported that Loghman Moradi and Zanyar Moradi were also executed in Mariwan.
The two are cousins and were arrested by Iranian police in 2009 and charged with the 1988 assassination of the son of the preacher of Mariwan.
Their mothers recently issued pleas for their release.
UN rights experts called on Tehran to halt their execution in a statement on Friday and reiterated an earlier appeal on Panahi’s behalf.
“We urge the Government of Iran to immediately halt their executions and to annul the death sentences against them in compliance with its international obligations,” stated Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
They expressed concern that the cousins were tortured while in custody and did not receive a fair trial.
A prison officer told Panahi a few days earlier that his death would be used as an intimidation tactic.
He was executed a few hours before Iranian forces began shelling the headquarters of Kurdish-Iranian parties in the Kurdistan Region.
PDKI’s headquarters were shelled while the group was having a leadership meeting.
There are reports that two other Kurdish prisoners on death row, Loghman Moradi and Zanyar Moradi, have also been executed.
Panahi was hanged at 5:00 Saturday morning in Iran’s Rajaee Shahr Prison west of Tehran, his brother Amjad Hossein Panahi confirmed to Rudaw English.
“And we have not received back his body yet,” he said.
A member of the Kurdish party Komala, Panahi was arrested in June 2017 during a confrontation with security forces. Iranian authorities allege he was armed at the time.
Panahi denied the charge.
Membership in opposition parties like Komala does not carry the death sentence.
Human rights organization Hengaw reported that Loghman Moradi and Zanyar Moradi were also executed in Mariwan.
The two are cousins and were arrested by Iranian police in 2009 and charged with the 1988 assassination of the son of the preacher of Mariwan.
Their mothers recently issued pleas for their release.
UN rights experts called on Tehran to halt their execution in a statement on Friday and reiterated an earlier appeal on Panahi’s behalf.
“We urge the Government of Iran to immediately halt their executions and to annul the death sentences against them in compliance with its international obligations,” stated Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
They expressed concern that the cousins were tortured while in custody and did not receive a fair trial.
A prison officer told Panahi a few days earlier that his death would be used as an intimidation tactic.
He was executed a few hours before Iranian forces began shelling the headquarters of Kurdish-Iranian parties in the Kurdistan Region.
PDKI’s headquarters were shelled while the group was having a leadership meeting.