Families Of Four Political Prisoners Called In For Farewell Meeting

The families of four Kurdish political prisoners who face death sentences have been summoned to Evin Prison for a meeting, a sign of imminent execution.

The Hengaw Human Rights Organization reported that Pejman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad (Hazhir) Faramarzi, and Vafa Azarbar are scheduled to meet their families at Evin, where they face imminent execution after receiving death sentences from Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.

Amnesty International earlier condemned their arbitrary detention since July 2022. The organization reported that the men were arrested by Iran's Ministry of Intelligence near Urmia, West Azarbaijan province, on July 20, 2022. State media later announced their arrest, accusing them of “espionage for Israel and plotting terrorist activities within the country.”

Footage aired on state television in October and December 2022 purportedly depicted the four men confessing to planning a bomb attack near the central city of Esfahan, allegedly under Israeli intelligence guidance.

The Islamic Republic, which has the highest rate of executions in the world after China, has executed 90 people just from December 22 to January 21.

In a recent revelation, UN experts disclosed that at least 834 people were executed in Iran in 2023, with eight of them linked to nationwide protests. The experts urgently called on the Iranian government to halt the surge of executions and undertake a comprehensive review of the use of the death penalty.