Execution of two Kurdish political prisoners in Urmia prison
14-July-2020
Category: ethnic minorities، executions
Breathing in Confinement: Two Kurdish political prisoners, Diako Rasoulzadeh and Saber Sheikh Abdullah, were executed in Urmia Prison on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, at 1:00 AM. The two political prisoners had been transferred to solitary confinement yesterday.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, death sentences of the two political prisoners, Diako Rasoulzadeh and Saber Sheikh Abdullah, were implemented in Urmia Prison. Concurrently with their transfer to solitary confinement and with the escalating concerns about their execution, Amnesty International issued a statement yesterday, calling for a halt to the execution of these prisoners.
Amnesty International said in a statement: The death sentence of the two young men was issued following a grossly unfair trial based on torture-tainted “confessions”, and amid overwhelming evidence pointing to their innocence.
They had always been accused of collaboration with Komala Party and being in connection with a deadly armed attack in 2010 , in which they had repeatedly denied involvement.
Judicial authorities have so far ignored the complaints of Saber Sheikh Abdullah and Diako Rasoulzadeh about lack of access to a lawyer and being tortured during detention.
According to the Statistics Center of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, 114 people have been executed in Iran in the first six months of the year 2020, three of whom were political prisoners.