Conflicting Reports on the Execution of Saman Nasim in Iran

While some news sources have reported the execution of Saman Nasim, the family of this Kurdish prisoner has denied the reports about the implementation of his sentence. On the other hand, the 'Kurdpa' website has reported that the situation of five Kurdish prisoners sentenced to death remains 'ambiguous.' Previously, a Kurdish journalist in Iran, quoting Saman Nasim's brother, told Radio Farda that the Kurdistan Intelligence Office contacted his family and stated that his execution was carried out on Friday, March 1, and they should come on Saturday to receive his body. This is while the execution is carried out by the Execution Department of the Judiciary. The International Federation for Human Rights has also announced that it has learned that Saman Nasim was executed on Thursday morning 'in the presence of representatives from the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Intelligence.' However, the family of this Kurdish prisoner, in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America, denied the news about his execution and the phone call from the Urmia prison officials regarding the return of Saman Nasim's belongings, while also quoting the head of Urmia prison as saying that he had been 'taken away' from the prison. Previously, human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, emphasized that Saman Nasim was only 17 years old at the time of his trial and, according to international laws that Iran has also accepted, should not have been subject to the death penalty due to his age. According to reports, the Revolutionary Court accused Mr. Nasim of participating in an armed conflict with members of the IRGC near the Kurdish city of Sardasht in West Azerbaijan, in which an IRGC member was killed. On February 12, Saman Nasim announced in a letter from inside Urmia Central Prison that during his 97 days of detention, after what he described as 'inhumane and illegal torture,' he was forced to make false confessions, based on which he was sentenced to death. The 'Kurdpa' website reported on Friday that it received multiple reports about the execution of five Kurdish political prisoners but refrained from publishing these news due to 'various ambiguities and lack of confirmation from their families.' Saman Rasoulpour, a Kurdish journalist residing in Europe, also reported on his Facebook page about the execution of two brothers named Ali and Habib Afshari. Ali Afshari's wife confirmed this news in an interview with Mr. Rasoulpour. After a hunger strike by several Kurdish prisoners in December, including 10 prisoners sentenced to death, Amnesty International expressed concern on December 25 that Iranian authorities had 'threatened to expedite' the execution of these prisoners. The Human Rights Support Center website named Saman Nasim, Seyed Sam Hosseini, Jamal Mohammadi, Behrouz Alkhani, Ali Ahmad Soleiman, Sirwan Najavi, Ebrahim Eisaipour, Ali Afshari, Rozgar Afshari, and Mohammad Abdollahi as 10 Kurdish prisoners sentenced to death. In this regard, a statement from 21 human rights organizations called for attention to the situation of Kurdish political prisoners. Saman Nasim stated that his confessions were recorded after torture. Amnesty International has requested the leader of Iran to stop the execution sentence of Saman Nasim. The United States expressed deep concern over the possibility of Saman Nasim's execution.