Iran sentenced a Kurd political prisoner to death in a court in the western province of Sanandaj on Sunday, a Kurdish human rights group said today. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that Houshmand Alipour was sentenced to death by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court. The 25 year old man was accused of being a member of a Kurd dissident group.
According to Amnesty International, Houshmand Alipour was arrested by security forces on August 3, 2018 and held incommunicado for weeks. Houshmand and another man arrested with him were shown on state television four days later on August 7 making a forced “confession” incriminating themselves.
Amnesty said that the men had little access to their families and no access to lawyers of their choosing.
Iranian Kurds Houshmand Alipour and Mohammad Ostadghader were arrested on 3 August & held without access to their families and lawyers. They have said they were forced under torture to make “confessions” which were then broadcast on state television https://t.co/1rpG90XY09
— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) September 10, 2018
At the time, Houshmand’s father said that he was subjected to “severe torture” to say he had attacked a military base in Saqez, western Iran. Mostafa Alipour said that his son was was not involved in any armed operations.
The court charged Alipour with “Baghi”, and Arabic term which means armed revolt.
Houshmand Alipour was transferred to the Saqez Central Prison 110 days after his arrest. He spent the 110 days in the Sanandaj Intelligence Detention Center. His family were only allowed to visit him once during the whole incarceration.
The last political prisoners to be executed by the Iranian regime were Kurd political prisoners Ramin Hossein Panahi and cousins, Loghman and Zaniar Moradi. They were executed in Rajaie Shahr Prison near Tehran on September 8, 2018.
The three young men were also tortured to make false confessions and were sentenced to death in grossly unfair trials.
Source » irannewswire