Two Kurd activists in danger of imminent execution

Amnesty International

Hossein Khezri, a 28-year-old man, and Zeynab Jalalian, a 27-year-old woman, both members of Iran’s Kurdish minority, are feared to be at imminent risk of execution.
Both were convicted of “enmity against God”, in separate cases, for membership of the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan.

Hossein Khezri was arrested in Kermanshah in 2008, held in detention facilities under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence and Revolutionary Guards, and was later sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Oromieh, north-west Iran, for “enmity against God” (“moharebeh”).

His sentence was upheld in or around August 2009. He said he was tortured and asked for an investigation, but his request was denied in March 2010.
On 11 April 2010, he was moved from Oromieh Central Prison to an unknown location, raising fears that his execution may be imminent.

Zeynab Jalalian, from Maku, a town in the north-west of Iran, was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” around January 2009 by Kermanshah Revolutionary Court.
Before that, she had spent eight months in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, during which time her family had no information concerning her fate.

She is reported not to have been granted access to a lawyer during her trial, which she said lasted only a few minutes. Zeynab Jalalian’s death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 26 November 2009.

In early March 2010, Zeynab Jalalian was moved from Kermanshah Prison to an unknown location, possibly a detention facility of the Ministry of Intelligence.
After several weeks, in late March 2010, she was transferred to Section 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran.

The precise reasons for her transfer are unknown, but the website Reporters and Human Rights Activists in Iran has reported that she said she is awaiting execution.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION Zaynab Jalalian wrote a letter the day after her sentence was confirmed, which was published on the internet.

In the letter, she claimed to have been tortured, and she said: “I asked the Judge if I could say good-bye to my mother. He told me “shut up.” The Judge rejected my appeal and refused to let me to see my mother.”

Kurds, who are one of Iran’s many minority groups, live mainly in the west and north-west of the country, in the province of Kordestan and neighboring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. They experience religious, economic and cultural discrimination…

At least 18 other Kurdish men and one other Kurdish woman are believed to be on death row in connection with their alleged membership of and activities for banned Kurdish organizations.

They include;
Farzad Kamangar, Farhad Vakili, Habibollah Latifi, Sherko Moarefi, Ali Haydarian, Anvar Rostami, Rostam Arkiya, Mostafa Salimi, Hassan Talai, Iraj Mohammadi, Rashid Akhkandi, Mohammad Amin Agoushi, Ahmad Pouladkani, Sayed Sami Hosseini, Sayed Jamal Mohammadi, Mohammad Amin Abdolahi, Ghader Mohamadzadeh, Aziz Mohammadzadeh and Shirin Alam-Hoei

.

Some have had their prison sentences increased to death sentences on appeal