Amnesty International concerned about secret execution of four prisoners in Iran
Amnesty International has expressed concern over the unclear fate of four prisoners sentenced to death in Iran, saying the failure to inform their families raises concerns that they may be tortured or executed in secret.
Amnesty International, in a statement released on May 12, stressed that the Islamic Republic's authorities "must clarify as soon as possible" the truth about the fate and whereabouts of four prisoners sentenced to death in Ahvaz and Urmia prisons.
The organization says that these prisoners are Hossein Silavi, Ali Khosrji, and Nasser Khafajian from the Arab-speaking minority of Khuzestan, and Hedayat Abdullahpour from the Kurdish minority.
According to this report, three prisoners from Sheyban Prison in Ahvaz were transferred to unknown locations on April 12 and a prisoner from Urmia Prison in West Azerbaijan on May 10.
According to Amnesty International, since the transfer of these prisoners, the Islamic Republic authorities have not provided any information about their status to their families and relatives, raising concerns about their torture and secret executions.
Apparently, since about a month ago, on the eve of the beginning of Ramadan, the number of executions in Iranian prisons, including prisons where ethnic and religious minorities are held, has increased; this has led to increased concerns about the safety of three Ahwazi prisoners and a Kurdish prisoner in Urmia Prison.
According to the laws of the Islamic Republic, officials are required to inform the lawyers of those sentenced to death 48 hours before the execution and allow their relatives to have a final visit.
Amnesty International says that in practice, it has long been common, especially in the case of ethnic and religious minorities, for officials to transfer those sentenced to death to unknown locations and keep the news of their executions secret for months and, in some cases, years.
The organization calls the trial of four Ahwazi and Kurdish prisoners unfair and accuses government agents of torturing and harassing them, including to extract forced confessions.
Ali Khosraji, Hossein Silavi, and Nasser Khafajian are accused of collaborating and participating in an armed attack on the Koy-e-Mojahed police station in Ahvaz in late May 2017.
Hedayat Abdullahpour was also arrested in late June 2016, along with a number of other citizens from Oshnavieh, by the intelligence agents of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and was tried and sentenced to death on charges of collaborating with the Kurdistan Democratic Party and participating in armed clashes with IRGC agents.
The Urmia Revolutionary Court has convicted Abdullahpour of charges of “armed rebellion” against the government and sentenced him to death. Abdullahpour has denied membership in the Kurdistan Democratic Party and participation in the armed struggle.
He said in court that the confession to the prosecutor's charges was extracted from him after he was subjected to excruciating torture during 78 days of solitary confinement in a Revolutionary Guard prison. Amnesty International wrote in its statement that the court did not pursue the issue of Abdullahpour's torture.
In the Islamic Republic, torturing prisoners to extract forced confessions and forcing prisoners to repeat the interrogators' scenarios is not uncommon.
There are many written and documented accounts that show that psychological pressure, torture, and abuse of prisoners in the Islamic Republic is a practice that began in the first months of the formation of this government and has continued uninterrupted for the past four decades.
Source: DW
