Davood Abdollahi's Hunger Strike in Qazalhessar Prison; He Has Been Sentenced to Death

On Sunday, January 1, the Iran Human Rights Association announced that Davood Abdollahi, a Sunni prisoner sentenced to death, has gone on hunger strike after being transferred to the quarantine section of Qazalhessar Prison for the execution of his sentence. According to the announcement, Abdollahi, who was moved to solitary confinement on Tuesday, December 26, is currently on the fourth day of his hunger strike. His transfer, due to his death sentence, has raised concerns among his family and relatives. This Sunni prisoner has been incarcerated for 14 years on charges of 'corruption on earth,' but human rights sources have described the handling of his case as 'unfair.' Abdollahi was arrested in a joint case with several others for the alleged murder of cleric 'Abdul Rahim Tina' in 2008. He and six other Sunni prisoners were sentenced to death in March 2016 by Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Mohammad Mogheiseh. This sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court under Ali Razini. The case was referred back to Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court for reconsideration, and their court session was held from June 17 to 19, 2019. Judge Abolqasem Salavati again issued a death sentence for them. The case was referred again to Branch 41 of the Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Ali Razini, which ultimately upheld the death sentences for Anvar Khazari, Kamran Sheikhe, Farhad Salimi, Qasem Abasteh, Khosrow Basharat, Ayoub Karimi, and Davood Abdollahi on February 3, 2020. In recent weeks, two of them, Qasem Abasteh and Ayoub Karimi, have been executed. Mahmoud Amiri Moghaddam, director of Iran Human Rights, described the execution of Ayoub Karimi as 'like other political prisoners' without a fair trial and based on confessions obtained under torture, calling this act 'a crime.' According to Amiri Moghaddam, the Iranian authorities execute political prisoners 'in the absence of international community attention.' Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, described the recent executions in Iran as 'the government's war' against 'defenseless people' and called on the public to support the plaintiffs, urging the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take immediate action to stop executions in Iran. Meanwhile, the Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported that at least 823 death sentences have been carried out in various prisons in Iran in 2023, with the full identity of 667 of them verified by the organization.