Hangaw: Three Kurdish Prisoners Accused of 'Spying for Israel' Executed in Urmia Central Prison

The human rights organization 'Hangaw' announced that the execution of Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omri Bardiani, and Rahman Purhazu, condemned prisoners, was carried out at 11 PM on Thursday, December 28, in Urmia Central Prison. These prisoners, along with a female co-defendant named Nasim Namazi, had previously been sentenced to death on charges of 'spying for Israel.' According to Hangaw, the execution of Nasim Namazi has been temporarily postponed. The organization reported, citing an informed source, that security agencies have informed the families of these prisoners that they will not return the bodies of the three prisoners to them. The third branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Urmia had sentenced five individuals, including Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omri Bardiani, Rahman Purhazu, Mansour Rasouli, and Nasim Namazi, to death for 'participating in intelligence cooperation and spying for Israel' in late Bahman of last year. The death sentences of these prisoners were recently confirmed by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court. Reports indicate that these defendants, from Urmia, were 'abducted' by the city's intelligence forces over the past two years and spent 'several months in solitary confinement' under 'physical torture.' According to Voice of America, Aram Omri Bardiani, one of the condemned prisoners in this case who was arrested in the fall of 2021, previously stated that despite not even knowing what Mossad was, he was forced under torture to confess to collaborating with Israel. Mansour Rasouli, another condemned defendant, had also been identified by Israeli media as an agent of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with reports of 'interrogation' by Mossad agents within Iranian territory. In this case, in addition to the five condemned prisoners, five other residents of Urmia were sentenced to 10 years in prison each on similar charges. The names of these defendants are Kamran Hanareh, Fakhruddin Dodkanlouy Milan, Ashkan Osman Nejad Ghandok, Hassan Omrpour, and Amir Moshtagh Gengchin. International human rights organizations have repeatedly warned about the unfounded security charges against citizens in Iran and the non-transparent judicial processes handling their cases.