NCRI - The Iranian regime’s henchmen hanged six Sunni political prisoners early morning on Wednesday despite international calls to spare their lives.
Hamed Ahmadi, 33, Jahangrir and Jamshid Dehghani (two brothers, 28 and 29), Kamal Mowlaie 30, Seddiq Mohammadi, 28, and Hadi Hosseini, 31, were hanged in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj.
The regime’s judiciary had sentenced to death these Kurdish prisoners after being convicted of the vaguely worded offence of “enmity against God.”
Iran under mullahs rule, remains the world highest executioner per capita. Since Hassan Rouhani has taken office as president some 1300 prisoners have been executed.
Amnesty International had issued a statement yesterday, March 3rd to spare the lives of the six Sunni political prisoners on death row.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International had urgently appealed to the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of these men, and quash their death sentences which followed grossly unfair trials.'
They were among 33 Sunni men currently on death row in Iran. All of the men maintain that they were targeted solely because they practiced or promoted their faith, such as taking part in Sunni religious seminars and distributing Sunni religious reading materials, the statement said.
Source:
NCRI, March 4, 2015
6 Sunni Kurdish Prisoners Were Executed This Morning
6 death row Kurdish Sunni prisoners who had been transferred to an unknown location yesterday, have been executed. Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns this inhumane act and holds the Iranian authorities' leader Ali Khamenei responsible for this barbaric act.
According to reliable reports from Iran, the 6 Sunni Muslim prisoners,Jamshid and Jahangir Dehgani (brothers), Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal Molayee, Sedigh Mohammadi and Hadi Hosseini belonging to the Kurdish ethnic minority in Iran were executed early Wednesday morning in Rajaishahr prison of Karaj.
Their families and several well known human rights defenders and other people had gathered outside the prison several hours before the execution.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns executions of the 6 prisoners and urges the international community to condemn this barbaric act. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: "We hold Ali Khamenei, the Supreme leader of the Iranian authorities responsible for this inhumane act. The international community, and especially the countries involved in the dialogue with Iran must condemn these executions. Anything else will send the wrong signal to the Iranian people and the authorities. The world must show that their dialogue with the Iranian authorities also benefits the human rights".
Hamed Ahmadi, Jamshid Dehghani and his younger brother Jahangir Dehghani, Kamal Molayee, Hadi Hosseini and Sedigh Mohammadi were sentenced to death after being convicted of vaguely-worded offences including Moharebeh (enmity against God) and "corruption on earth". They had been subjected to torture, ill-treatment and unfair trial.
Background: Jamshid and Jahangir Dehgani (brothers), Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal Molayee were arrested in 2009. They were accused along with 6 others of involvement in the assassination of a senior Sunni cleric with ties to the Iranian authorities.
They have denied any involvement, saying that their arrest and detention preceded the assassination by several months. They were sentenced to death by the branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, convicted of "Moharebeh" (enmity against God) and "acts against the nation's security". Their trial lasted about 10 minutes and they haven't seen their lawyer, according to sources who have been in contact with Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The 6 other prisoners were executed in December 2012, but the death sentences of the 4 prisoners were postponed.
Their execution was scheduled to be carried out in on September 25, 2013, and June 15, 2014, but it was postponed possibly due to the international attention.
In 2014 more than 19 human rights group called on the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of 33 Sunni prisoners.
Source: Iran Human Rights, March 4, 2015
UN ‘deeply troubled’ by high number of executions in Iran
Iran had a 'deeply troubling' number of executions last year and did not keep a promise to protect ethnic and religious minorities, the United Nations said on Tuesday in its annual report on the Iranian regime’s human rights record.
The report from the office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the U.N. Human Rights Council cataloged U.N. concerns about rights violations in Iran against women, religious minorities, journalists and activists.
The reports said: “The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continuing large number of executions, including of political prisoners and juveniles”.
It repeated a U.N. call for a death penalty moratorium and a ban on executing youths.
The report said Hassan Rouhani had not kept its promise to 'extend protection to all religious groups and to amend legislation that discriminates against minority groups'.
“The above-mentioned commitments have not ... been translated into results,” the report said. “Individuals seeking greater recognition for their cultural and linguistic rights risk facing harsh penalties، including capital punishment.”
Tehran also continued a crackdown on freedom of expression. The regime has blocked 5 million websites and has jailed journalists.
The report said that the prisoners were allegedly tortured, ill-treated, held for months in solitary confinement with no access to a lawyer and risked the death penalty for crimes such as 'corruption on earth' and 'enmity against God'.
The report added Iran had not invited the U.N. investigator on Iranian human rights, and 24 of 29 U.N. inquiries on specific cases had gone unanswered.
Source: NCRI, March 4, 2015
