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Iranian Authorities Execute Kurdish Man after 15 Years in Prison

Activists warn of a new surge in hangings in Iran (Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Activists warn of a new surge in hangings in Iran (Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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Iranian Authorities Execute Kurdish Man after 15 Years in Prison

Activists warn of a new surge in hangings in Iran (Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Activists warn of a new surge in hangings in Iran (Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Iranian authorities on Thursday executed Kurdish man Kamran Sheikheh, the last surviving defendant in a case linked to a cleric's killing in 2008, rights groups said.
Sheikheh, charged of “corruption on Earth,” was put to death in Urmia prison in northwestern Iran, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in separate statements.
He was arrested in 2009 and was sentenced to death with six other prisoners by a branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh.
Sheikheh's six co-defendants had all been executed in separate hangings between November 2023 and May 2024.
Amnesty International has said they had been sentenced to death “in a grossly unfair trial” that had been “marred by allegations of torture and other ill-treatment,” according to AFP.
IHR described Sheikheh as a “political prisoner” who had been sentenced to death “based on torture-tainted confessions in a grossly unfair trial.”
The execution “was unlawful according to international law and the Islamic republic's own laws, amounting to an extrajudicial killing,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
HRANA said that the proceedings related to the killing of an imam of a mosque in the northwestern city of Mahabad in September 2008.
Sheikheh and the six others were arrested in connection with the killing in January and February 2010 and sentenced to death in 2018.
Activists say that Iran's use of the death penalty disproportionately targets members of the Kurdish, Arab and Baluch ethnic minorities in western and southeast Iran.
In one of the latest cases, rights groups said the Revolutionary Court of Tehran had sentenced Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish woman held in the capital's Evin prison, to death on charges of “rebellion.”
Earlier this month, Iranian authorities sentenced to death another Kurdish woman, Sharifeh Mohammadi, on the same charges over accusations of links to an outlawed Kurdish organization.
IHR warned that Sheikheh's execution is part of a new surge in hangings in Iran marking the end of an apparent lull coinciding with snap presidential elections several weeks ago.
The rights group said at least 20 people have been executed since Saturday.
Iran executed 853 people in 2023, the highest number recorded since 2015, representing a 48% increase from 2022 in the wake of the protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The spike in death penalties has continued into 2024, with at least 95 recorded executions by March 20, according to Amnesty International.

 

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Israel PM again Warns Iran after Top Diplomat Talks of Revising Nuclear Doctrine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
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Israel PM again Warns Iran after Top Diplomat Talks of Revising Nuclear Doctrine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, by military means if necessary - AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel would do "everything" to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon after Iran's top diplomat warned it could end its ban on developing one if Western sanctions are reimposed.

The renewed war of words between the Middle East foes came as Iran prepares to hold key nuclear talks with European governments on Friday which have been overshadowed by their joining with Washington to have Tehran censured by the UN atomic watchdog.

"I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used," Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 in an interview.
Israel is the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear-armed state. It has long made preventing any rival from matching it its top defense priority.
Netanyahu said Tuesday that the ceasefire that went into effect in Lebanon the following day would allow Israel to focus on Iran. He did not elaborate on what action he envisaged.

Iran launched two missile barrages at Israel over the past year in retaliation for the killing of leaders from Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as an Iranian general.

Israel responded both times with limited attacks on Iran, most recently bombing several military sites on October 26.

Last week's chiding at the International Atomic Energy Agency prompted a defiant response from Tehran, but its officials have since signalled willingness to engage with others ahead of the return of US president-elect Donald Trump, whose last administration pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran.

- Current doctrine 'insufficient' -

Iran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but according to the IAEA, it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state enriching uranium to 60 percent.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, published on the eve of Iran's talks with Britain, France and Germany, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that frustration in Tehran over unmet commitments, such as lifting sanctions, was fuelling debate over whether the country should alter its nuclear policy.

"We have no intention to go further than 60 percent for the time being, and this is our determination right now," he told the British daily.

But, he added, "there is this debate going on in Iran, and mostly among the elites... whether we should change our nuclear doctrine" as so far it has proven to be "insufficient in practice".

A 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers aimed to give Iran relief from crippling Western sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program to prevent it from developing a weapons capability.

Tehran has consistently denied any such ambition. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final authority in Iran's decision-making, has issued a religious decree, or fatwa, prohibiting atomic weapons.

Tehran's willingness to sit down with the three European governments so soon after the censure comes just weeks before Trump is set to return to the White House.

During his first term, Trump focused on reimposing heavy sanctions on Iran following his administration's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 deal three years after it was agreed.

In retaliation for the US withdrawal, Tehran reduced its compliance with the deal, raising its uranium enrichment levels to 60 percent -- closer to the 90 percent required for a nuclear bomb.

- 'Frank exchange' -

Under the 2015 accord -- which will expire in October 2025 -- Iran's enrichment was capped at 3.67 percent.

Iranian diplomat Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who serves as the political deputy to Araghchi, is scheduled to represent Iran in Friday's talks.

On Thursday he and deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi met with Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European Union's foreign affairs arm.

Mora said on X that they held a "frank exchange... on Iran's military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights".

Last week, the 35-nation board of governors of the IAEA adopted a resolution proposed by Britain, France, Germany and the United States condemning Iran for its lack of cooperation on nuclear issues.

Iran described the move as "politically motivated" and in response announced the launch of "new advanced centrifuges" designed to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium.

For Tehran, the goal of the talks on Friday is to avoid a "double disaster" scenario, in which it would face renewed pressures from both Trump and European governments, according to political analyst Mostafa Shirmohammadi.

He noted that Iran's support among European governments had been eroded by allegations it offered military assistance for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Iran has denied these accusations and hopes to mend relations with Europe, while also maintaining a firm stance.