Urmia Revolutionary Court Sentences a Kolbar to Death

Human rights sources report that the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Urmia has sentenced a 31-year-old kolbar named Idris Ali to death on charges of 'espionage for Israel.' According to the Hengaw Human Rights Organization, the death sentence for this kolbar from Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province, who is a father of two children, was issued based on a forced confession under pressure from the 'Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC). The report states that Idris Ali was arrested by IRGC intelligence forces in Sardasht nearly three months ago and was eventually transferred to the political ward of Urmia prison. Despite the defendant's objections to the death sentence and the case being sent to the 'Supreme Court,' he has so far been deprived of his basic rights, including access to a lawyer. Additionally, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization, this kolbar has been subjected to 'physical torture' and has become a 'victim of false charges by the Ministry of Intelligence.' In another report, Kolbar News announced that in this case, in addition to Idris Ali, eight other kolbars from the cities of Sardasht, Bukan, and Saqqez were arrested, five of whom were released on bail, while three remain in prison, with the exact sentences of two of them still unclear. The judicial crackdown on kolbars occurs amidst a backdrop where many kolbars in Iran's border regions have been killed or injured due to gunfire from Islamic Republic forces. Armed agents of the Islamic Republic, including the IRGC, have targeted hundreds of kolbars and traders in recent decades under the guise of 'combating smuggling.' The killing of a kolbar by Islamic Republic forces and the continued detention of citizens in Paveh and Urmia have led Amnesty International to call for the 'immediate and unconditional' release of Tomaj Salehi. Ahmadreza Jalali, a dual-national prisoner at risk of execution in Evin, is on a hunger strike.