Prisoner Hanged to Death Without Warning

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Kamal Ahmadnejad, a prisoner held on death row in Miandoab Prison in northwestern Iran, was precipitously executed in the early morning of Monday, September 10th, 2018.

Prison authorities carried out the execution without informing his family or granting them a final visit. Ahmadnejad, originally from Gamishgoli village near Miandoab, was abruptly transferred to Ward 2 of Miandoab Prison two weeks ago.

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Kurdistan reported that Ahmadnejad was executed in face of lingering questions about the coherence of his case. Arrested along with five others in December of 2015, he was the only defendant in the case to be sentenced to death. His co-defendants Halmat Abdullahi, Milad Abdi, Saeid Siahi, Soleyman Kori, and Mostafa Tahazadeh were each sentenced to fifteen years in prison, according to Maf News, an affiliate of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Kurdistan.

The six were charged with killing Hashem Zeinali, former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as “membership in a Kurdish opposition party.” Ahmadnejad’s family has alleged that he was forced to confess under the duress of torture.

According to their families, some of the defendants were not at the scene of the crime when the murder allegedly occurred, a discrepancy they said was raised during court proceedings.

The six were originally convicted on September 18, 2016.