14-01-2010
All were convicted after unfair trials for moharebeh (enmity against God) for membership of banned Kurdish opposition groups, mainly the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), an armed group, and Komala, a Marxist organization. Some are reported to have been tortured in detention and to have been denied access to a lawyer. The executed man, Fasih (Fateh) Yasmini was arrested during clashes between PJAK and Iranian security forces in the village of Hendavan, near Khoy, in or around February 2008. It is not clear whether Fasih Yasmini was involved in these clashes or not. He was reportedly among a number of villagers arrested, including five girls, his father Hossein Yasmini, and another man Fahim Reza-Zadeh, who are said to have been taken to a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Khoy, where Fasih Yasmini was reportedly tortured. His family had no news of him for about two months. The 17 Kurds on death row for political offences are reported to be: 1. Zeynab Jalalian [f]
2. Habibollah Latifi
3. Sherko Moarefi
4. Farhad Vakili
5. Farzad Kamangar
6. Ali Haydarian
7. Hossein Khezri
8. Rashid Akhkandi
9. Mohammad Amin Agoushi
10. Ahmad Pouladkhani
11. Sayed Sami Hosseini
12. Sayed Jamal Mohammadi
13. Rostam Arkiya
14. Mostafa Salimi
15. Anwar Rostami
16. Hassan Talai
17. Iraj Mohammadi
Last year Amnesty International also called on Iran to stop the execution of Kurdish political prisoners. (photo: Photo: dailymail.co.uk)
