Iran executes four Kurdish political prisoners in Karaj
Kurdish political prisoners Pezhman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad Faramarzi and Vafa Azarbar were executed today in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province. Their bodies have not yet been released to their families.
In December 2023, the four individuals were sentenced to death on charges of “spying for Israel” by Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran and the verdict was later upheld by the Supreme Court in early January.
After 19 months of enforced disappearance orchestrated by the Ministry of Intelligence, the families of the four were allowed a brief face-to-face meeting on 28 January.
On 27 January, the families of the political prisoners were summoned to Evin Prison by the Enforcement of Judgements Office of Tehran Court and told that the prisoners would be transferred from Ghezel Hesar Prison to Evin Prison for family visits.
The families waited in the meeting room of Evin Prison from morning until noon on 28 January in anticipation of the meeting, after which the prisoners were returned to Ghezel Hesar Prison and executed the following day in the presence of judicial and security authorities.
Despite efforts by the families to recover the bodies for burial, the authorities have not yet released them.
The four individuals – Faramarzi, 28, from Dehgolan, Kurdistan Province; Mazloum, 27, from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province; Azarbar, 26, from Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province; and Fatehi, 28, from Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province – were arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence in a village in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on 22 June 2022.
They were denied family visits until the day before their execution, and there was no information about their whereabouts during their detention.
Additionally, their appointed lawyer was denied meetings, court appearances and access to case information during their legal proceedings.
The security services of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in line with their routine, twice broadcast on state television forced confessions from the four political prisoners with repeated fictitious scenarios, alleging links with the Israeli secret service Mossad.
The programme claimed that the Komala members had been arrested in Isfahan, Isfahan Province, contradicting the family’s statement to KHRN that “contrary to the Ministry of Intelligence’s claims, these individuals were only sent to Orumiyeh for organisational and political activities and did not carry any weapons”.
Kurdistan Human Rights, 2024
