Family of Ramin Hossein Panahi Rejects Claims by Kurdistan Judiciary Regarding His Case

The family of Ramin Hossein Panahi reacted to a statement from the Kurdistan judiciary, which claimed he was "armed with a Kalashnikov, a handgun, and a grenade" at the time of his arrest and had "confessed to engaging in a confrontation with agents." On Friday, May 14, the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, published a statement from the Kurdistan judiciary announcing that Ramin Hossein Panahi was arrested in July 2017 during a "confrontation with military forces" in which three individuals accompanying him were killed. The statement alleged that Mr. Hossein Panahi was "armed with a Kalashnikov, a handgun, and a grenade" and had "confessed to engaging in a confrontation with agents" during interrogations. In response to this statement, Amjad Hossein Panahi, Ramin's brother, tweeted quoting their mother, stating, "If the judiciary is telling the truth, they should also publish Ramin's and our statements." Accordingly, Ramin's mother emphasized that these accusations were made by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to "bring Ramin to the gallows with false accusations." Amjad Hossein Panahi also tweeted that the Kurdistan judiciary's statement "repeated the same false accusations of the IRGC," and that Ramin was "never armed during his arrest and was only present in Sanandaj to visit our mother." He added, "Ramin is a political and civil activist and should be tried in a public court." Ramin Hossein Panahi was arrested in July of last year on charges of "baghi" or armed rebellion against the Islamic government and "membership in the Komala Party" and was sentenced to death. Mr. Hossein Panahi had previously told the presiding judge that he had been subjected to "torture and mistreatment" in prison and did not fire any shots during the confrontation. Earlier, Hossein Ahmadinejad, Ramin Hossein Panahi's defense attorney, stated that based on the "case documents," his client had never touched a weapon and was "innocent." It has been reported that the Supreme Court confirmed this sentence in April of this year, but Ramin Hossein Panahi's lawyer told Radio Farda that this sentence has not yet been communicated to him. He emphasized that his client is entitled to the right of retrial and the right to invoke Article 477 (the article concerning the annulment of a sentence by the head of the judiciary if it is deemed unlawful). Mr. Ahmadinejad also stated that his client has the right to exercise these rights and submit a request for retrial in another branch of the Supreme Court. He stressed that if the judiciary officials execute him under these circumstances, they would be acting "illegally." Recently, reports have emerged about Ramin Hossein Panahi being transferred to solitary confinement for the execution of his death sentence, but according to the latest reports, this sentence has currently been suspended. In recent days, reports have emerged that Nishitiman Hossein Panahi, Ramin's cousin and the wife of Ahmad Hossein Panahi, who was also arrested a while ago, committed suicide at the age of 25 on Tuesday, May 11. Following this incident, reports about Ramin Hossein Panahi being transferred to the general ward and the temporary suspension of his death sentence were published. Meanwhile, Amnesty International, in a statement referring to the suspension of the execution of this 22-year-old prisoner, urged its audience to continue efforts to save him from execution and to ensure "a fair trial" for him by writing to the authorities of the Islamic Republic. Philip Luther, the director of research for Amnesty International on the Middle East, described Ramin Hossein Panahi's case as "a case of a suffocating collapse of justice" and stated that he was sentenced to death in less than an hour in a court while "the signs of torture were evident on his body." Amnesty International states that the circumstances of Ramin Hossein Panahi's arrest are unclear to this human rights organization. Initially, the Komala group stated in a statement that he and three other members of Komala participated in an armed confrontation with the IRGC in the Shalman neighborhood of Sanandaj. However, later, Ramin Hossein Panahi and his lawyer stated that only the IRGC had opened fire during this confrontation. This issue is confirmed in a report published on July 17, 2017, by a government media outlet, Akamnews, to the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic. The report states that these four men "fell into the trap of security, military, and police forces and without even having the opportunity to fire a shot at the military and security forces, encountered the fire of special operations forces." The official statement published by the IRGC on June 22, 2017, also does not mention any casualties.