Injustice Lives On

Ehsan Fattahian

It sometimes seems that there will always be injustice in the world. On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, three people have been sentenced to death in Iran for what are essentially political offenses.

Amnesty International explains the basics:

Three men, members of Iran’s Kurdish minority, are at risk of imminent execution. This may be in reprisal for a spate of assassinations and attempted assassinations of officials which took place during September 2009,in the northwestern province of Kordestan.

Habibollah Latifi, Ehsan (Esma’il) Fattahianand Sherko Moarefihave all been sentenced to death for “enmity against God” in unconnected cases overthe last two years. They are believed to be on death row in a prison in Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kordestan.

According to the Sanandaj News website (http://senanews.blogfa.com) a judge in Sanandaj has received orders from the Judiciary, in the Iranian capital Tehran, to carry out the executions of these Kurdish prisoners. The Head of the Judiciary in Sanandaj is reported to have written to the Supreme Leader of Iran for permission to carry out the executions.

Iran: Imminent Execution of Kurdish Prisoners Habibollah Latifi ; Ehsan Fattahian ; Sherko Moarefi

While this document anticipates that the executions will occur sometime after November 19, at least one, for Ehsan Fattahian, has been scheduled for November 11:

Ehsan Fattahian’s lawyer, Nassrollah Nasri, was notified on November 6 that his client will be executed on Wednesday morning, November 11, 2009, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) reported today. Ehsan, 27, was arrested in July 2008 and first sentenced to 10 years in exile by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj. During the appeals process his sentence was changed by Branch 4 of the Kordestan Appeal Court to execution for being an “enemy of God” (Mohareb), allegedly by being a member or PJAK (Kurdistan Independent Life Party). Despite undergoing torture, Ehsan refused to confess to carrying arms and participating in an armed struggle.

Iran Set to Execute Kurdish Political Prisoner Ehsan Fattahian on November 11

Fattahian was not convicted of either executing or planning any violence. He was only convicted of belonging to an illegal organization. There is an online petition to U.N. Secretary General Ben Ki-Moon, asking him to petition Iran to stop the execution of Ehsan Fattahian. The Amnesty International link is an urgent action bulletin asking people to request that all the sentences be commuted. If you decide to write to the people suggested by AI, please follow their guidelines.