[The views expressed in this blog post are the author’s own.]
Author: Marjan Keypour Greenblatt
Another dark day for Iran
Earlier today, Iranian Kurdish brothers Zaniar and Loghman Moradi were executed. Their judgement was handed down following unfair trials and confessions that allegedly were made only after brutal torture. Many members of the international community fought against their execution to no avail.
The killing of these brothers calls for honoring the memory of others who also were unjustifiably executed. On August 2, 2016, 20 Kurdish prisoners were mass executed. Many were convicted of “mohareb” or “enmity against state” without due process. Prior to their executions, many of the “convicts” reported physical and psychological torture, including “mock executions.” Many reported contracting illnesses during their time in prison, however Iranian authorities refused to treat them.
But the insults and injuries followed them to the gallows. Even in their final moments, these men and their loved ones were denied the opportunity to bid farewell. Mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, siblings and children — all were not informed of the executions until after the fact. At the burial, families shared harrowing reports of injured bodies, even exposed broken bones.
Among them was 29 year old Shahram Ahmadi. Shahram and his family pleaded for his forgiveness for years. In fact, the charges against him actually were overturned at one point. Tragically and yet perhaps unsurprisingly given the arbitrariness of the Iranian legal system, a judge reinstated the charges shortly before his death.
Many remember Shahram’s ailing mother who already had suffered the execution of her younger son, Bahram. Despite her illnesses and other obstacles she faced, she issued a letter to the authorities before her son was murdered, pleading for them to spare him. “How much can a mother endure?” she asked, echoing the sentiments of the Iranian people all of whom continue to suffer under this repressive system.
Ramin Hossein Panahi, 29 year old activist was also executed. This Kurdish activist staged a dramatic hunger strike when he sewed his lips in protest of the injustice he was facing. Ramin’s brother, Amjad revealed to BBC Persian that his brother was executed with a broken arm. He was still on his hunger strike.
Sadly, Ramin Hossein Panahi, Zaniar and Loghman Moradi join the ranks of Shahram and Bahram Ahmadi and thousands of other men and women who have been executed unjustly by the Islamic Republic of Iran. All of them were denied a proper trial, their families denied a proper farewell, their people denied a proper future.
