Kurdish prisoner’s mother calls on EU to raise son’s case with Tehran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ramin Hossein Panahi was sentenced to death by the Iranian government in January accused of being a member of Komala, a Kurdish opposition party. Panahi’s mother has written to the EU’s high representative asking her to raise his case during talks with Iran taking place in Vienna.

Sharafat Zarini, Panahi’s mother, wrote the public letter to EU High Representative Federica Mogherini asking her to raise Panahi’s detention with Iranian officials during talks on rescuing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal following the US withdrew earlier this month. 

Campaign for Defending Civil and Political Prisoners published Zarini’s letter on Thursday. 

“This is a letter from a mother in a small city in Iranian Kurdistan. From a mother whose heart is pounding since my son might be executed after Ramadan month. … I heard that you are a mother of two daughters, so you can sympathize with me,” Zarini wrote in her letter. 

“I want to add to your negotiation agenda with Iran the case of Ramin who is a political activist and now facing execution.”

On May 9, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran has started negations with the remaining parties to salvage the deal.  On Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Vienna to meet European officials. 

Panahi, 22, was arrested on June 22, 2017 in Sanandaj, charged with being a member of the Kurdish opposition party Komala. Prosecutors said Panahi had received military training and was carrying a gun and a grenade at the time of his arrest.

Panahi’s brother, Rafiq, confirmed to Rudaw in a recent interview that his brother is a Komala Peshmerga but that he was in Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan) to visit family when he was shot and injured by Iranian security forces.

Human rights monitor Amnesty International says Panahi’s trial was “grossly unfair.” According to his lawyer, the court convicted and sentenced him to death for “taking up arms against the state.” He is due to be executed on June 15.