On September 12th, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), released a statement praising those who have staged recent strikes in cities across Iran. She also hailed the Kurdish people of Iran for protesting against the regime’s cruel attacks against the Kurdish people, including this week’s missile strikes against the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, and the executions of Kurdish political prisoners in Iran.

Mrs. Rajavi called once again on the United Nations to take decisive measures to stop the Iranian regime’s crimes against humanity.

The United Nations Security Council must take action to stop the Iranian regime’s crimes against humanity.#Kurdistan#Iran#IranRegimeChange #FreeIran2018

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 12, 2018

Reaction from International Community

The international community has responded with shock to the executions of Ramin Hossein Panahi, Zaniar Moradi, and Loghman Moradi. The three Kurdish political prisoners were executed by the regime despite pleas from human rights groups. Amnesty International condemned the executions, saying,

“The trials of all three men were grossly unfair. All were denied access to their lawyers and families after their arrest, and all said they were tortured into making “confessions”. In sentencing them to death despite these massive failings in due process, the Iranian authorities have once again demonstrated their brazen disregard for the right to life.”

Dr. Walid Phares, Foreign Affairs Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, condemned the executions on Twitter:

“Three #KurdishIranians political prisoners, #RaminHosseinPanahi, #LoghmanMoradi & #ZanyarMoradi were executed this morning at #RajaiShahr Prison in #Iran. Their execution is a war crime. The #IranRegime will be held accountable by the international community.”

Several Iranian political prisoners wrote their own messages condemning the executions, sending condolences to their families, and vowing that Iran would one day be free.

Strikes in Response

On Wednesday, merchants and shop owners in cities of the western provinces of Iran’s Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan went on strike. The strikes were in answer to a September 8th call to the Iranian people by Maryam Rajavi, who urged the people of Kurdistan as well as across Iran to rise up and protest the recent aggression by the Iranian regime toward the Kurdish community. In her call to protest, Mrs. Rajavi said,

“The mullahs’ anti-human regime is hell-bent on stepping up the atmosphere of terror and repression to extinguish the Iranian people’s uprising through suppression, executions, bombardment and missile attacks. But it will take that wish to the grave.”

Staff Writer

Human rights groups are condemning the Iranian regime for its recent inhuman use of the death penalty on the Kurdish political prisoners. Kurdish dissidents have long been targeted by the regime, but the recent wave of executions is so extreme that it has drawn international attention.

Executions of Kurdish Political Prisoners

On Saturday, September 8th, Ramin Hossein Panahi, Zaniar and Loghman Moradi were executed in Gohardasht in Karaj. As the three men were Kurdish political prisoners, a number of human rights groups have condemned their executions as politically motivated.

Amnesty International issued a statement about the executions, saying:

“The trials of all three men were grossly unfair. All were denied access to their lawyers and families after their arrest, and all said they were tortured into making ‘confessions.’ In sentencing them to death despite these massive failings in due process, the Iranian authorities have once again demonstrated their brazen disregard for the right to life.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, Agnes Callamard, also condemned the executions, writing on Twitter:

No words of condemnation will be strong enough. #RaminHosseinPanahi execution amounts to an arbitrary killing by the State of #Iran. Given the identity of the victim, this is also a political killing. Despicable. https://t.co/YEGuIeCeXM

— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) September 8, 2018

“No words of condemnation will be strong enough. #RaminHosseinPanahi execution amounts to an arbitrary killing by the State of #Iran. Given the identity of the victim, this is also a political killing. Despicable.”

Also on Sunday, September 9th, Ahmad Shabab and Nasser Azizi were executed in Iran after being wounded and captured by the Revolutionary Guards in West Azerbaijan province, reported Iran News Wire.

Kurdish Political Prisoner Sentenced to Death

On Monday, September 10th, Kamal Ahmad Nejad was condemned to death by regime judicial authorities in Miyandoab, Western Azerbaijan. According to reports published on the Internet, Nejad was convicted of charges of membership in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran. Kamal Ahmal Nejad has already served more than four years in prison.

Regime Claims Responsibility for Attacks on Kurdish Dissidents

On Saturday, September 8th, the Iranian regime targeted Kurdish dissidents in Iraq in a missile attack that coincided with the executions of Kurdish political prisoners in Iran. The Revolutionary Guards fired a barrage of missiles upon the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) site.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the missile attacks, saying:

“The mullahs’ anti-human regime is hell-bent on stepping up the atmosphere of terror and repression to extinguish the Iranian people’s uprising through suppression, executions, bombardment and missile attacks. But it will take that wish to the grave.”

I strongly condemn the homicidal executions of three #Kurdish activists & the missile attacks on the headquarters of the Kurdish Democratic Party of #Iran & the Kurdish Democratic Party.This is a crime against humanityhttps://t.co/YKJoYBszh5 pic.twitter.com/DZreQ1kHwp

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 8, 2018

The MEK affirms the right of people of all political and religious affiliations to live without fear. The MEK and its Resistance Units are working with the Iranian people to topple the barbaric regime and end the climate of fear and intimidation that the mullahs have used for the past four decades to suppress the people.

Staff Writer

The Iranian regime unleashed a wave of violence against prisoners in Iran this week. The regime brutally executed 19 prisoners across the nation’s prisons, with eight of the 19 hung in a mass execution at Gohardasht Prison in Karaj province.

On April 17^th, the wave of violence began with the execution of a prisoner in Tabriz. The next day, the hanging of the eight martyrs took place in Gohardasht Prison. On the same day, Bahman Varmazyar, a sports coach imprisoned in Hamadan, was executed by the regime. Five days later, on April 23^rd, five prisoners from Urmia Prison were hanged, three from Kermanshah and one prisoner interned in Ilam were also sent to the gallows.

It was not just those that the regime executed that met their end this week. Mohsen Parvas took his own life on the 21^st of April. He committed suicide in protest at the appalling conditions and overwhelming pressures on him in prison. Another 31-year-old, Nasir Zoraghi, died following restrictions on his access to medical assistance. He collapsed following a stroke in Zahedan Central Prison.

Many of those executed had endured show trials and arbitrary suspension of their human rights. They were prisoners like Ramin Hossein Panahi, a Kurdish political prisoner who had his death sentence upheld this week by the Iranian Supreme Court. His trial lasted less than an hour.

His lawyer described his illegal treatment at the hands of the Iranian authorities. There was no evidence pointing to Panahi’s charge of “taking up arms against the state”. He was unarmed when he was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

While in prison, Panahi has been subject to torture, apparent from the marks and bruises on his skin. He was also only permitted to speak to his legal counsel on one occasion. On that occasion, the meeting took place under the watch of Iranian security agents.

These show trials and brutal executions are a violation of international law. It represents the Iranian regime attempting to maintain its weakening grip on power through the brutal administration of violent reprisals towards its critics.

The rise in executions is a desperate attempt to intimidate the public, who are taking to the streets to express their discontent, given the growing protests in objection to the reign of terror and corruption and the growing poverty.

The authorities wave of executions is unacceptable. It is time to put an end to these arbitrary executions, show trails, torturous interrogations, and illegal imprisonments. The Iranian people must mobilize and throw off the shackles of the regime.

Staff Writer