Amnesty International: Kurdish political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani is at risk of execution
Amnesty International announced on Tuesday, October 21, that Heydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner accused of "rebellion," is at risk of execution.
Amnesty International has written to Ebrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, calling on him to overturn the death sentence of Haidar Ghorbani and provide him with a fair trial.
The letter states that Heydar Ghorbani, 47, who is in Sanandaj Prison, had his request for a retrial rejected by the Supreme Court on September 7 of this year and is now at risk of execution at any moment.
This international human rights organization says that despite numerous complaints about the unfair trial process in Heydar Ghorbani's case, on August 6 of this year, Branch 27 of the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.
In the continuation of this letter, Amnesty International addressed the conduct of Heydar Ghorbani's trial in the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court and wrote: Heydar Ghorbani was sentenced to death in the Revolutionary Court on February 1 of last year on charges of "armed uprising" against the Islamic Republic.
The letter states that while Heydar Ghorbani was convicted in connection with the killing of three Basij members by Kurdistan Democratic Party forces, the court ruling states that Heydar Ghorbani was never armed.
Amnesty International says the verdict is based on "confessions" made under torture, in which he said he was the sole driver of the car used by the attackers to commit the murders.
Amnesty International also stated that since his arrest, Haidar Ghorbani has been under pressure in prison to confess, and he himself has said that he was repeatedly tortured to "confess" and that a film was made of these "confessions" and broadcast by the "Press TV" network.
In this context, Sharara Sadeghi, the wife of Heydar Ghorbani, has released a video, emphasizing that her husband has been "under the most severe physical and mental torture," and has called for international assistance to stop his execution.
In the video, which was posted on social media on September 10, Ms. Sadeghi called the death sentence issued by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court "arbitrary and unjust" and said that she and her children are living in the "most bitter and miserable" situation.
Heydar Ghorbani and his brother-in-law Mahmoud Sadeghi, who lived in one of the villages of Kamyaran in Kurdistan Province, were arrested in October 2016 on charges of "collaborating and aiding in the murder of several members of the Revolutionary Guard."
Source: Radio Farda
