Widespread Strike in Western Iranian Cities in Protest of Execution of Kurdish Prisoners and Revolutionary Guard’s Missile Attack
Photos and videos sent to Voice of America show that markets and businesses in several cities across western Iran are on strike in a coordinated action. Their protest is directed at the execution of three Kurdish political prisoners and a missile attack on the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Videos sent on Wednesday, September 12, report a general strike in the cities of Sanandaj, Piranshahr, Marivan, Paveh, Oshnaviyeh, and Mahabad.
For several days, Kurdish activists in cyberspace and some opposition parties to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including Komala Kurdistan of Iran, Democratic Party of Kurdistan Iran, Democratic Party of Kurdistan, and Komala Workers of Kurdistan from the Kurdistan Press Organization, called on people of western Iran in a campaign entitled “We Stay in Our Homes” to refrain from appearing on streets on Wednesday.
Ramin Hosseinpanahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi were executed on Saturday, September 8, at Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.
Ramin Hosseinpanahi was sentenced to death in a closed trial without the presence of a defense lawyer for his association with Kurdish opposition parties to the Islamic Republic. Zanyar and Loghman Moradi were executed on charges of “moharebeh (armed rebellion) and murder of the son of the Friday Prayer leader of Marivan,” despite evidence of their innocence.
The execution of these three Kurdish prisoners prompted reactions from some human rights organizations.
One day earlier, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer imprisoned in Iran, described the execution of three Kurdish political prisoners as indicative of the inherent violence of the Islamic Republic’s judicial system.
Philip Luther, researcher and director of the Middle East and North Africa section at Amnesty International, described the executions in a statement as horrifying, despite widespread condemnation of the death sentences against these individuals and multiple calls from UN experts and other activists to halt the execution.
Amnesty International’s statement also noted that the trial of these three individuals was severely unjust, and after their arrest they had no access to their lawyers and were tortured into confession.
Amnesty International called on the Islamic Republic’s authorities to take immediate steps to ensure fair trials, prohibit torture, and abolish capital punishment in accordance with Iran’s international commitments.
Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, defense lawyer for Ramin Hosseinpanahi, told Voice of America’s Persian service that the execution of Ramin was illegal.
In response to these strikes, some human rights activists have released videos showing security forces of the Islamic Republic marking shops in Mahabad with spray paint that have joined Kurdistan’s general strike.
Source: Voice of America
