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Source: IranWire

Aug 6, 2024

Iran Executes Kurdish Political Prisoner

Reza Rasai, a 34-year-old Kurdish political prisoner arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, was secretly executed in the early hours of Tuesday in Iran.


The execution was carried out at Dizel Abad Prison in western Kermanshah without any prior notification to Rasai's family.


The family was also warned against burying him in his hometown of Sahneh, adding to his kin's distress in the already contentious case, the Hengaw human rights organization reported. 


Rasai's execution follows a rapid legal process that has raised serious concerns about due process. 


Mohammad Rasool Haqnajati, head of the second branch of the Criminal Court of Kermanshah, issued the death sentence on October 2023.


On December 31, 2023, he forwarded Rasai's case to the Execution of Sentences Department of Kermanshah province, two weeks after Iran's Supreme Court had approved the sentence.


Rasai was sentenced to death for the alleged murder of Nader Bairami, the IRGC's intelligence chief in Sahneh City. 


However, human rights organizations have highlighted significant issues with the case. The sentence was reportedly issued under pressure from the head of the judiciary despite a lack of evidence to prove the crime.


Rasai's conviction was based on confessions that human rights advocates claim were obtained through torture and fabrication over several months. No concrete evidence has been presented to support the charges against him.


Rasai was initially arrested by government forces in Karaj city on November 24, 2022, during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests. After interrogation, he was transferred to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah.


According to a report by Amnesty International, Iran has reached its highest level of death sentence executions in the last eight years, with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic executing 853 people in 2023 alone.


The report indicates that 481 executions, more than half of the total, were related to drug crimes.


This marks an 89 percent rise in death penalties for drug-related offenses compared to 2022 when 255 people were executed.


The latest numbers also show a staggering 264 percent increase compared to 2021 when 132 individuals faced execution on similar charges.





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