Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 11, 2020—Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, the President elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has issued an urgent call to the international community for a concentrated effort to save the lives of protesters arrested during recent uprisings who are now on death row and face imminent executions. There are a number of political prisoners whose lives are also threatened in such manner.
The NCRI called on the United Nations Secretary General, High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, and other human rights organizations to take urgent action aiming to prevent the criminal death sentence issued for Hossein Reihani. This political prisoner had been arrested during the November 2019 uprising in Iran.
Intelligences agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) arrested Reihani on December 7, 2019, at his home in the city of Eslam-shahr near the Iranian capital Tehran. The agents brutally beat him and thus transferred him to the IRGC intelligence detention center in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison’s so-called ‘ward 2A.’
Authorities transferred Reihani to the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary (Fashafuyeh). The mullahs’ so-called court in Eslam-Shahr sentenced Reihani to death, calling him ‘Mohareb’ (waging war against God) for sending an SMS about setting banks on fire.
During the past few weeks the death sentences of eight political prisoners in Tehran and Isfahan have been upheld by the regime’s so-called Supreme Court. However, due to global campaigns against executions—especially online Persian hashtags “Do not execute” and “Immediate cancellation of death sentences”—have forced the regime to suspend these executions. There is also an English hashtag, “#StopExecutionsInIran.”
However, on August 5 the mullahs’ regime executed Mostafa Salehi, a protester arrested during the December 2017 / January 2018 uprising.
#Iran’s regime executes political prisoner Mostafa Salehi, arrested during 2017-2018 uprising#StopExecutionsInIran #لغو_فوری_اعدام #اعدام_نکنید https://t.co/b78LM1zGsf
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 5, 2020
On the next day, the mullahs’ Supreme Court upheld a death sentence issued for Kurdish political prisoner Haydar Ghorbani, from the city of Kamyaran in Kuridstan province. His dossier has been referred to the Sanandaj prosecutor’s office for implementing verdicts. Ghorbani was arrested in 2016 by agents of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and placed under torture for some time. He is now on death row and his execution is imminent.
On April 7, Branch 27 of the Iranian regime’s so-called Supreme Court upheld the death sentence issued for political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani from the city of Kamyaran in Kuridstan province, western Iran.#StopExecutionsInIran#اعدام_نکنید #لغو_فوری_اعدامhttps://t.co/sqFPCHLtyb
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) August 10, 2020
Furthermore, two other Kurdish political prisoners by the names of Houshmand Alipour from the city of Sardasht and Mohammad Ostadghader from the city of Saqqez, both behind bars since August 2018, were both sentenced to death in a so-called court in Sanandaj back in November 2019.
In other developments, a number of Sunni prisoners in eastern Iran were sentenced to death in a so-called court in the city of Mashhad, northeast Iran, and their dossiers have been transferred to the Supreme Court to be upheld.
NCRI President Maryam Rajavi calls on the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General, High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, along with other human rights organizations to take urgent action aimed at having these death sentences revoked and saving the lives of these political prisoners. Madam Rajavi once again emphasized on the necessity of an international fact-finding mission to visit Iran’s prisons and interview inmates held by the regime, especially political prisoners.
The religious fascism ruling Iran should be strong condemned and isolated by the international community for its continuous use of torture and arbitrary executions, especially in regard to political prisoners, and the horrific and systematic violation of human rights.
Calling on the international community to urgently intervene to #StopExecutionsInIran save #Iran protesters and political prisoners sentenced to death. Iran’s ruling regime must be strongly censured for its continued torture, arbitrary executions esp. of political prisoners.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 10, 2020
