A Lawyer: 100 Kurdish Prisoners in Iran Sentenced to Death

Hosseini Ahmadinejad, the defense attorney for Heydat Abdollahpour, pointed out that the Supreme Court has upheld his client's death sentence in an "unfair trial." He stated that currently more than one hundred Kurdish prisoners are sentenced to death in Iranian prisons. Mr. Ahmadinejad told the Iran Human Rights Campaign that the judiciary, in an "unfair trial," has deemed his client, Heydat Abdollahpour, guilty of "aiding in Baghi" (armed rebellion against the Islamic government) and sentenced him to death. According to this report, 25-year-old Heydat Abdollahpour, a car mechanic from the city of Oshnaviyeh, was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death by the Urmia court. Mr. Ahmadinejad mentioned that his client's arrest occurred following a clash between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the area, but he had "no role in the conflict according to witness testimonies and the circumstances confirmed by local people... and he was contacted for car repairs." The Iranian Supreme Court had previously annulled Mr. Abdollahpour's death sentence and referred it to another court in Urmia, but according to Hosseini Ahmadinejad, this time the Supreme Court "under pressure and interference from security agencies" upheld his client's death sentence and ordered its execution. In recent years, Iran has consistently ranked among the top three countries with the highest number of executions globally. Amnesty International reported last year that Iran executed at least 507 people in 2017, placing it second on this list after China. Among the Kurdish prisoners executed in recent months in Iran are Zanyar Moradi, Luqman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein Panahi, who were executed on September 8. Hosseini Ahmadinejad also informed the Iran Human Rights Campaign that currently more than one hundred Kurdish prisoners are sentenced to death in Iranian prisons. Mr. Ahmadinejad, who has previously represented several political and security cases, especially Kurdish prisoners, did not name these prisoners. Habibollah Latifi, Mostafa Salimi, Anwar Rostami, Hoshang Rezaei, and Ebrahim Eisaipour are among the prisoners who have been arrested in Kurdish regions of Iran and sentenced to death.