12 April 2020 :

Political prisoner Mostafa Salimi was executed at Saqqez prison, Iranian province of Kurdistan, on Saturday, April 11, 2020. He was arrested on April 6, 2003 in the city of Nahavand, in the western Hamadan Province, on the charge of Moharebeh (waging war on God) and collaboration with the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. A branch of the Revolutionary Court in Iran sentenced Mostafa Salimi to death. Salimi along with 70 prisoners escaped from Saqqez prison on March 27 (See HoC March 27), and managed to escape to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq but after 10 days he was arrested, and the region’s security forces extradited him without giving him a chance to apply for asylum. Iranian authorities carried out his execution quickly. The move is seen by many observers as a tool to spread fear among other prisoners. During the past weeks, there have been many riots in Iranian prisons to protest the management of jails during the Coronavirus spread in Iran. Mostafa Salimi was 53 at the time of execution. Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns the execution of Mostafa Salimi in Iran and considers his extradition from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq a violation of international human rights conventions. “The death penalty is an inhumane punishment. In addition, Mostafa Salimi’s execution was against all international norms. He was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Courts lacking a fair trial and due process,” IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said, “Executions in Iran have continued to be carried out even after the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and lockdown in the country. It shows the death penalty is crucial for the Islamic Republic’s survival”.