Execution of Death Sentence Against Heydar Ghorbani, Kurdish Political Prisoner, Must Be Stopped Immediately

Following the rejection of a request for retrial of the case of Heydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner, at the Supreme Court, concerns about his imminent execution have intensified. The widespread physical and psychological torture inflicted on this political prisoner and his coerced televised confession, combined with an unjust and non-transparent case review process in the judiciary that led to the issuance of a death sentence, represent clear evidence of the continued practice of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary in insisting on the execution of political and ideological prisoners and the gross violation of human rights in Iran.

Heydar Ghorbani was arrested in September 2016 on charges of “complicity in premeditated murder” and “cooperation with one of the opposition parties” and was sentenced to three separate sentences totaling 90 years imprisonment and 200 lashes. However, later in a separate case, he was sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh” (enmity against God).

Numerous documents and evidence, including statements from Heydar Ghorbani himself, indicate that he was tortured repeatedly throughout his detention to force him to make “forced confessions.” Additionally, his trial took place without the presence of a lawyer.

Hadi Ghaeemi, director of the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, referring to the rejection of the retrial request for Heydar Ghorbani’s case at the Supreme Court, said: “The judicial authorities’ disregard for this request, despite violations of existing laws and regulations in the country, demonstrates that judicial procedures are merely formalistic when reviewing cases where verdicts are issued by security agencies.”

According to Hadi Ghaeemi, “the unjust and non-transparent review process and disregard for citizens’ right to defense, particularly for political and ideological defendants in the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, has become a continuous practice that results in the arbitrary deprivation of prisoners’ lives through the issuance of reckless death sentences.”

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran, while expressing concern about the possibility of Heydar Ghorbani’s imminent execution, demands that Iran’s judicial authorities prevent the execution of this inhumane sentence and prepare the groundwork for a retrial of this political prisoner’s case. The rejection of Heydar Ghorbani’s lawyer’s request for retrial at the Supreme Court and the failure to address numerous contradictions and ambiguities in the case file, along with legal documentation confirming torture and continuous mistreatment of Heydar Ghorbani and his family, further necessitates a renewed and lawful review of this case.

Heydar Ghorbani’s death sentence was confirmed on August 6, 2020, by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court, and on September 27, 2020, Saleh Nikbakht, Heydar Ghorbani’s lawyer, announced the rejection of the retrial request by Branch 27 of the Supreme Court and the referral of the case for execution to the Sanandaj Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office.

According to Saleh Nikbakht, “Heydar Ghorbani’s retrial request was not accepted by three judges of the Sanandaj judiciary. As a result, the request to apply Article 477 in this case for sending to the head of the judiciary was rejected. Now my client’s case has been sent to the Kamyaran Prosecutor’s Office for execution.”

Heydar Ghorbani, a 48-year-old citizen from the village of “Bezush” in Kamyaran district, Kurdistan Province, was arrested on September 20, 2016, by security forces in Kamyaran. Ghorbani was arrested because on September 9, 2016, three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed in one of the villages of Kamyaran district.

As stated by Saleh Nikbakht, Heydar Ghorbani’s lawyer, “Heydar was merely the driver of a car in which three people (members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) were killed.”

Heydar Ghorbani’s lawyer previously announced that his client “neither admitted to membership in Kurdish parties nor personally took up arms during the court proceedings, and therefore the charge of moharebeh does not apply to him. However, the court’s interpretation in this regard is that by assisting in murder, he has effectively committed moharebeh.”

According to Iranian law, the charge of moharebeh applies to those who are members of a group or organization that has taken up arms against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s system and carried out armed operations.

Based on existing statements and documentation, none of the circumstances such as membership in a group or organization that supports armed struggle or the bearing of arms apply to Heydar Ghorbani, and his forced confessions were obtained under the most severe torture.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting aired a documentary titled “Death Driver” in February 2018, in which a portion of Heydar Ghorbani’s forced confessions was broadcast.

As the likelihood of Heydar Ghorbani’s imminent execution has become more serious, more accounts of physical and psychological torture inflicted on him have been released. The release of an audio file from Ibrahim Yousefi, who was imprisoned with Heydar Ghorbani in Kamyaran prison in 2016 and provided detailed descriptions of the effects of torture injuries on Heydar Ghorbani’s body, corroborates the fact that Heydar Ghorbani was forced to confess under torture.

Previously, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network had reported that Heydar Ghorbani had been subjected to interrogation and physical and psychological torture for several months at the Sanandaj Intelligence Office.

AmnestyInternational stated in a report in September 2020 that while calling for immediate action to overturn this political prisoner’s death sentence, “the court relied on confessions contrary to law that were obtained under torture, without the presence of a lawyer, and at a time when Heydar Ghorbani was a victim of enforced disappearance.”

In the latest effort to prevent Heydar Ghorbani’s death sentence from being carried out, a group of Sunni clerics, by writing a letter to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, called for a review of the court’s verdict and a retrial of the case.

Source: Human Rights Campaign in Iran