The Islamic Republic Executed Khosrow Basharat, a Political Prisoner, After 15 Years of Imprisonment

Khosrow Basharat, a Kurdish political prisoner, was executed on Wednesday, May 15, in Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj after 15 years of imprisonment. The 38-year-old from Mahabad had been transferred to solitary confinement two weeks prior to his execution. Basharat was one of seven political prisoners who were sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Mohammad Mogheiseh, on charges such as 'membership in Salafi groups' and 'corruption on earth' after their arrest in December 2009. He and six others, named Farhad Salimi, Anwar Khazari, Qasem Abasteh, Davood Abdollahi, Kamran Sheikheh, and Ayoub Karimi, were initially detained in connection with the murder of the imam of a mosque in Mahabad. Reports indicate that these seven political prisoners were subjected to 'severe torture' during their detention, and human rights activists have described the judicial process regarding their cases as 'ambiguous' and fraught with multiple flaws. In a letter of suffering written in 2019, Basharat detailed the torture he endured in the Urmia Intelligence detention center and denied all charges against him. Human rights activists have consistently criticized the issuance of death sentences in the Islamic Republic by 'illegitimate courts' and 'without adhering to the most basic rights of the accused' and without regard to fundamental human rights standards. Arash Sadeghi, a human rights activist and former political prisoner, previously wrote on 'X': 'The outcome of the case in a fair judicial process would have led to their freedom.' The Iran Human Rights Campaign emphasized that all these death sentences were issued in 'unjust, opaque courts without meeting the minimum standards of a fair trial,' deeming these sentences devoid of 'the slightest legal validity.' The Islamic Republic has so far executed six of these political prisoners, namely Qasem Abasteh, Ayoub Karimi, Farhad Salimi, Davood Abdollahi, Anwar Khazari, and Khosrow Basharat. According to HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, in addition to Khosrow Basharat, four other prisoners were also executed on Wednesday, May 15, on charges related to 'drug offenses' and 'murder' in Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj. The Hengaw Human Rights Organization previously reported a 328% increase in executions in Iran in April compared to the previous month. According to this report, at least 77 prisoners, including three women and one Kurdish political prisoner, were executed in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in April. In this context, more than 80 human rights organizations issued a statement requesting that the continuation of cooperation between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Islamic Republic be conditional on halting drug-related executions.