[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 4




IRAN:

Refugees protest Iran capital punishment at UNCHR in Erbil



In an act of solidarity, Iranian refugees gathered in front of UNHCR 
headquarters in the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil on Saturday to condemn 
capital punishments handed out by the Islamic Republic's courts.

The demonstrators read a joint statement "to protest against the execution rule 
for political activists: Ramin Hossein Panahi, Hidayat Abdullah Pur, and others 
facing capital punishment by the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Panahi was sentenced to death on the charge of membership in Komala after being 
captured amid skirmishes with Iranian security forces near Sanandaj.

Komala is a Kurdish political party that resumed an armed struggle against the 
forces of the Islamic Republic in 2017.

"We have gathered here today to condemn death sentence for political prisoners 
in Iran and Kurdistan and show support to all political prisoners in Iranian 
prisons," the statement added.

Hidayat Abdullah Pur was arrested in 2016 and then an Iranian court handed down 
death penalty on charges of working with a Kurdish group.

"In the end, we call on the UNHCR and all the other institutions advocating for 
human rights, artists, and freedom lovers of the southern Kurdistan to take 
practical steps to revoke the death sentences..." stated the protesters outside 
of the UN's Refugee Agency offices, using a different term for the Kurdistan 
Region.

Amnesty International has called justice in Iran "exceptionally cruel."

Ali Kazemi, 22, was hanged on January 30 after being convicted of murder when 
he was 15-years-old.

"By carrying out this unlawful execution, Iran is effectively declaring that it 
wishes to maintain the country's shameful status as one of the world's leading 
executers of those who were children at the time of their crime," said 
Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director 
said.

On Friday, Mughrabi warned of "grave concerns about the grim reality for those 
defending human rights in Iran today..."

(source: rudaw.net)