ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A top human rights watchdog is calling for the halt to the execution of a Kurdish prisoner arrested as a juvenile in Iran.
Barzan Nasrollahzadeh was 17 years old when he was arrested in the Kurdistan province capital of Sanandaj on suspicion of being involved in the murder of a Sunni cleric. He was later found guilty of ‘enmity against God’, which carries the death penalty. He said agents of the intelligence ministry tortured him during his pre-trial detention, suspending him upside down and applying electric shocks applied to his body, according to Amnesty International.
“By sentencing juvenile offenders to death, it violates international law,” Amnesty Iran tweeted on Monday of Nasrollahzadeh’s sentence.
The prisoner is currently being held in Rajaei-Shahr prison in Karaj, Alborz province, according to Amnesty.
“We are concerned about the risk that its execution will be scheduled shortly,” the organization posted on their website on Friday.
Tens of thousands of political prisoners are jailed in Iran over various charges including advocating for democracy and promoting the rights of women, workers, and ethnic minorities.
Ethnic minority groups including Kurds and Azeris are disproportionately detained and more harshly sentenced for acts of political dissidence, according to a July 2019 report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
