Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Iranian authorities today executed Borhan Ansari, a prisoner from Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on drug-related charges in Orumiyeh Central Prison, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Ansari was transferred to solitary confinement on 9 October alongside another prisoner, whose identity remains unknown, in preparation for execution. While Ansari was executed today, the fate of the second prisoner remains unclear. This latest execution comes as KHRN...

Kurdish political prisoner Verisheh Moradi has begun an indefinite hunger strike on World Day against the Death Penalty to protest against the death penalty in Iran and her own prolonged detention, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Moradi, a member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR), has been held in Evin Prison's women’s ward since August 2023 on charges of "armed...

Prisoners Hadi Rostami, Reza Ramazani and Salah Karimi have gone on hunger strike to protest their transfer to solitary confinement cells in Orumiyeh Central Prison. The prisoners, from Ilam in Ilam Province and Bukan in West Azerbaijan Province, have also been denied contact with their families, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Rostami, who faces a sentence of amputation, was placed in solitary confinement...

Iran executed Ashkan Yari, a prisoner from Kermanshah who had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges, in Hamadan Central Prison on 5 October. Yari was arrested about four years ago and sentenced to death for involvement in drug trafficking. The execution is part of a broader trend, as at least five Kurdish prisoners were executed in September in the prisons of Hamadan, Miandoab, and Ghezel...

Kamran Ghassemi and Keyvan Rashozadeh, two political prisoners from Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, were conditionally released on 5 October after serving five years in Orumiyeh Central Prison, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.  Ghassemi had been on hunger strike since 25 September in protest at the authorities' refusal to grant him conditional release. Both men were released on 5 October, but Ghassemi, who had...