Iranian of the Day

iranhumanrights.org: Eghbal Moradi, father of Zanyar Moradi, a Kurdish prisoner at Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the Supreme Court upheld his son’s death sentence. “My relatives went to prison this week to bring Zanyar warm clothing, as the cold season has come. But prison officials told them that he would not need the clothes as his death sentence has been upheld. They told my relatives this explicitly, adding that they would be informed of the execution date,” Eghbal Moradi told the Campaign.

Moradi also told the Campaign that the execution orders have not been served to his son’s lawyer. Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi are two men from Mariwan who were sentenced to public hanging on Wednesday, 22 December 2010 at Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court, with Judge Salavati presiding, on charges of “membership in the Komala Party,” and “involvement in the murder of Mariwan Friday Imam’s son.” Both prisoners stated in a published letter that they had been forced to make false confessions about the murder under torture and threats of rape. Zanyar, 21, and Loghman, 25, are accused of murdering the Mariwan Friday Imam’s son on the night of 5 August 2009.

Regarding the charge of murder, Eghbal Moradi said: “I do not accept this accusation at all. The chain murders in Kurdistan, and particularly in Mariwan, have been carried out by the regime itself. Someone by the name of Hiva Yatab who is a member of IRGC’s official staff has not only murdered the Friday Imam’s son, but several other individuals. But the regime chooses to connect the murders to PJAK or other groups. Unfortunately, in order to cover up the murders they commit, the IRGC has had to fabricate scenarios and introduce other individuals as murderers.”

Moradi also spoke about his son’s deprivation of visitation and telephone contact with his family, saying, “My relatives went to Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj several times, begging to have a short meeting with him, but the authorities said that it’s impossible and he cannot have any visitors. They went again this week to take him warm clothing when they faced this news.”

Osman Moradi, resident of Mariwan and father of Loghman Moradi, the other death row prisoner, told the Campaign that he has no information about his son or his potential execution. “I have not heard from him in months. We do not have visits or phone calls. His lawyer doesn’t know anything, either. They did not tell me or his lawyer anything,” he said.

In an earlier interview with the Campaign, Osman Moradi spoke about his son’s charges: “During his first nine months inside the Intelligence Office Prison, there was no mention of a murder charge in his case file. But they took him to the Intelligence Ministry again and kept him there for 25 days. He was tortured and abused to the point where he admitted to the murder; I mean that he accepted it in order to free himself of those conditions. It took them 17 months to get that confession out of him.”

Update: Two Kurdish political prisoners who were sentenced to public hanging on 22 December 2010 on charges of “enmity with God” and “murder of the son of Marivan’s Friday Imam” were verbally advised over the past few days that their sentences have been upheld by the Supreme Court, local human rights sources advised the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “Last week, the Rajaee Shahr Prison authorities verbally advised the two prisoners that their verdict had been upheld by the Supreme Court. During a short call to his family, Loghman Moradi confirmed this news, saying that he was shocked upon hearing the verdict, and considering that notification of the decision was not done in writing, he was hopeful that this was done only to intimidate him.”

According to hra-news.org, the two political prisoners previously wrote letters, unveiling their prison torture in order to extract fake confessions.