Kurdish Political Prisoner Executed While Awaiting Appeal Of His Death Sentence
26-August-2015
Category: executions
Breathing in Confinement – Behrouz Alkhani, 30-year-old political prisoner, was executed in the prison of Urmia, while he was waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision.
Amnesty International reported this news in a statement and also said that the authorities have refuse to hand over his body to his family.
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, said: “Today’s execution of Behrouz Alkhani, who was still waiting for the outcome of a Supreme Court appeal against his sentence, is a vicious act of cruelty by the Iranian authorities and a denigration of both Iranian and international law. It is appalling that they have imposed further pain and suffering on Behrouz Alkhani’s family by refusing to return his body for burial,”
He also added: “The fact that the authorities have carried out the execution despite the pending appeal against a sentence imposed in a grossly unfair trial and international pleas to halt the execution, shows their utter disregard for justice. His execution is just further proof of the authorities’ determined resolve to continue with a relentless wave of executions which has seen more than 700 put to death in Iran so far this year.”