Defend International urges Iran to stop the execution of the political activist Mr. Shirkoh Moarefi and 11 others, and encourages the Iranian authorities to review death penalty in light of International Human Rights Law.
DI calls on Iran to take serious steps towards imposing an immediate moratorium on executions and providing a timetable for the abolition of the capital punishment.
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PUBLIC STATEMENT
DI Urges Iranian Authorities To Stop Execution of 12 Kurdish Political Activists
Oslo, 13 November 2009. Defend International urges Iran to stop the execution of the political activist Mr. Shirkoh Moarefi and 11 others, and encourages the Iranian authorities to review death penalty in light of International Human Rights Law.
Defend International condemns the execution of Mr. Ehsan Fatahiyan on the morning of 11 November 2009, and warns the authorities not to make the same mistake again.
Mr. Moarefi, aged 30, was detained in October 2008 in the city of Saqqz, in the Kurdistan Province of Iran. He has been convicted of being a mohareb (“enemy of God”) and “endangering state security”. On 12 November 2009, Mr. Moarefi was transferred to the solitary confinement in preparation for execution.
Defend International expresses deepest concern about the safety of at least 12 political activists, all feared to be at imminent risk of execution in Sanandaj prison. Their names are Zeynab Jalaliyan (female), Shirkoh Moarefi (male), Habibollah Latifi [1] (male), Farhad Chalesh (male), Ramezan Ahmad (male), Rostam Arkiya (male), Fasih Yasamini (male), Rashid Akhkandi (male), Hossein Khaziri (male), Farzad Kamangar [2] (male), Ali Heydariyan (male) and Farhad Vakili (male). Almost all of them were reportedly tortured and sentenced to death after unfair trials.
Defend International urges the Iranian authorites to commute Shirkoh Moarefi’s death sentence along with those of Zeynab Jalaliyan, Habibollah Latifi, Farhad Chalesh, Ramezan Ahmad, Rostam Arkiya, Fasih Yasamini, Rashid Akhkandi, Hossein Khaziri, Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydariyan and Farhad Vakili.
DI calls on Iran to abolish death penalty and to refrain from any unfair or inhumane practice that violates international human rights standards.
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