Judicial Officials of the Islamic Republic Execute Dawood Abdollahi, a Sunni Prisoner

Judicial officials of the Islamic Republic executed Dawood Abdollahi, a Sunni prisoner, early on Tuesday morning in Ghezal Hesar prison in Alborz province. According to HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Dawood Abdollahi was executed on Tuesday, January 2, just a few days after being transferred to solitary confinement. He was the third defendant in a joint case for which the death penalty was carried out. On January 1, a source informed Voice of America that Dawood Abdollahi, a 41-year-old Sunni prisoner sentenced to death, had been transferred to solitary confinement in Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj on Tuesday, January 5, and that there was a risk of his execution. HRANA reported that the execution of Dawood Abdollahi, who had been on a hunger strike since January 5, was carried out 'without prior notice to his family.' Previously, Qasem Abasteh was executed on November 5, and Ayoub Karimi was executed on December 8 on similar charges in the same case as Dawood Abdollahi in Ghezal Hesar. Dawood Abdollahi and six others were arrested 14 years ago following the death of an individual during a conflict in Urmia, charged with the 'premeditated murder' of a person named Abdolrahim Tina. According to HRANA, Dawood Abdollahi was accused of 'moharebeh' (waging war against God), and judicial officials cited his 'support for Salafi groups' as the basis for this charge, which the prisoner has consistently claimed is baseless. Dawood Abdollahi and six other defendants in this case were sentenced to death in March 2016 by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Mohammad Mogheiseh. Although this sentence was overturned by Judge Ali Razini in the Supreme Court, it was reissued by Judge Abolqasem Salavati in a retrial at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, and Judge Ali Razini of Branch 41 of the Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty this time. Anwar Khazari, Kamran Sheikhe, Farhad Salimi, Qasem Abasteh, Khosrow Basharat, Ayoub Karimi, and Dawood Abdollahi were the seven defendants sentenced to death in this joint case, and so far, the sentence has been executed for three of them. According to human rights reports, the number of executions in Iran has significantly increased this solar year. Previously, Pegah Bani Hashemi, a lawyer, told Voice of America that executions have always been a tool of repression and terror throughout the life of the Islamic Republic.