Iran Executed Kurdish religious prisoner Khsraw Besharat
Hengaw: Wednesday, May 15 2024
The death sentence of Khsraw Besharat, a Kurdish religious prisoner from Mahabad, was carried out after he spent 15 years in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj. He was transferred to solitary confinement two weeks before his execution.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, Khsraw Besharat, who had been imprisoned for fifteen years, was executed in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj.
Coinciding with the execution of one of his co-defendants, Anwar Khezri, Khsraw Besharat was also moved to solitary confinement on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
Strongly condemning the execution of Khsraw Besharat, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights emphasizes that this political prisoner faced a death sentence through a process that was completely non-transparent, unfair, and illegal within the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In addition to the execution of Anwar Khezri in recent weeks, four other individuals from Khsraw Besharat's co-defendants group, namely Davud Abdullahi, Ayoub Karimi, Qasim Abeste, and Farhad Salimi, were also executed in the same prison.
Khsraw Besharat, Farhad Salimi, Anwar Khezri, Qasim Abeste, Davoud Abdullahi, Kamaran Shekha, and Ayoub Karimi were apprehended on December 7, 2009, by security forces and were subsequently transferred to the intelligence agency detention center in Urmia City.
Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, under the leadership of Judge Moqiseh, handed down the death sentences for these prisoners. The charges against them in the alleged murder case of "Abdul Rahim Tina" included "action against national security," "propaganda against the government," "membership in Salafi groups," and "corruption on earth."
The session for the accusations against these 7 Kurdish religious prisoners took place in March 2015, with the mentioned sentences officially communicated to them on May 25, 2016.
It's noteworthy that the verdict was overturned by the 41st branch of the Iranian Supreme Court, headed by Judge Razini, in 2017. An appeal was made to the 15th branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, where, in June 2017, Khsraw Besharat and six other co-defendants were again sentenced to death by Judge Abolqasem Salvati.
This verdict was confirmed by the 41st branch of the Iranian Supreme Court with repeated pressure from the Iranian Intelligence Department in Urmia. On Monday, March 4, 2020, it was officially communicated to Mahmoud Walizadeh Tabatabai, the lawyer representing these seven Kurdish religious prisoners.
These seven individuals were initially incarcerated in Gohardasht prison and were later transferred to Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj on August 1, 2023, following the evacuation of Gohardasht prison.
