Kurdish activist in Iran receives death penalty after 200 days in solitary confinement

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish man who was shot and detained in Iran last year was sentenced to death by an Iranian court on Thursday, the family told Kurdistan 24.

A court in Sanandaj (Sina), Kurdistan Province sentenced Ramin Hossein Panahi to death for “acting against national security” and being a member of the Kurdish opposition, Komala.

In June, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran shot dead three members of Komala and took an injured Panahi into custody.

Panahi, who was shot three times, was reportedly transported to a hospital in Sina, the provincial capital of Kurdistan, but was then taken into custody half an hour later before receiving proper treatment.

According to his family, Panahi was arrested on June 23, 2017, and has spent nearly 200 days in solitary confinement.

In September, the family told Kurdistan 24 that the whereabouts and condition of Panahi were unknown as Iranian intelligence authorities refused to reveal details about his detention.

Panahi’s family urged rights organizations and the public to pressure the central government in Tehran into providing the political prisoner with medical treatment and a fair trial.

In response, Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran-Geneva (KMMK-G), and other rights groups urged Iran to release the political prisoner and provide him with medical attention and a lawyer.

“Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law and places individuals at serious risk of extrajudicial execution, torture, and other gross human rights violations,” Amnesty International said regarding Panahi’s case.

The Panahi family has lost several members in the past few years to Tehran’s suppression of the Kurdish opposition.