London, Tehran: Iran on Wednesday secretly executed a political prisoner who had been convicted of killing a police officer in 2018 and of being a member of an opposition Kurdish party, rights groups revealed.
This came two days after activists reported the execution of another political prisoner.
On Thursday, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group, Kurdish-focused Hengaw group and Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network said in separate statements that Arash Ahmadi was hanged on Wednesday morning at a prison in the western city of Kermanshah.
The execution was carried out in secret without his family being notified in advance, they added.
A political activist, Ahmadi had been a member of the Kurdish Komala political party, which pushes for greater autonomy for Iran’s Kurdish minority but is banned as a terror group by Tehran, they said.
Ahmadi had spent some time in neighboring Iraq where Komala’s leadership is based, before returning to Iran, the separate statements added.
“The execution of this Kurdish political prisoner was carried out without notifying the family and conducting a last meeting,” IHR said.
Also, Kurdistan Human Rights Network said, citing relatives, that Ahmadi had been “subjected to severe torture to accept the accusations against him and make forced confessions.”
Later, AFP quoted Iranian state television as saying that, “Arash Ahmadi, also known as Sarkot, a member of the Komala terrorist group, was executed this morning (Wednesday).”
The television said Ahmadi, 29, had assassinated police major Hassan Maleki in Ravansar, a town in the western province of Kermanshah, in August 2018.
The channel showed videos of Ahmadi “confessing” that he had been behind the attack.
Such videos are common in Iran and are frequently condemned by rights groups, arguing that confessions are often forced and the result of torture.
Foreign-based rights groups said Ahmadi was arrested in early 2021 while attempting to flee overland to Europe after being convicted of the murder. He had always denied the charges.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International (AI) said on Wednesday that Iranian authorities had “forcibly disappeared” four Kurdish dissidents linked to Komala who were now at “grave risk” of unfair trials on charges that carry the death penalty.
The four men -- Pejman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar, Mohammad Faramarzi and Mohsen Mazloum -- were arrested in July 2022 and are believed to be facing spying and terror charges.
Amnesty accused Iran of “concealing their fate and whereabouts from their families and lawyers since their arrests.”
Two days prior to Ahmadi’s execution, activists said Iran executed Hassan Abeyat, an ethnic Arab.
Abeyat had been in prison since 2011 on charges of membership in an opposition group.
Earlier, rights groups said the Iranian authorities had sentenced six Arab political prisoners to death in the southern city of Ahvaz.
The prisoners are identified as Ali Majdam, Moin Khanfari, Mohammad Reza Moghadam, Salem Mousavi, Adnan Mousavi and Habib Edris.
Six other Arab citizens have also been sentenced to long prison terms between 5 to 35 years, the groups said.
