On the early morning of Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the judiciary of Iran carried out the execution of Khosrow Besharat, a political prisoner of conscience from Mahabad, who had been held in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
Khosrow Besharat, a 38-year-old political prisoner, had been imprisoned in Iran for nearly 15 years. He was transferred to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison two weeks ago for the execution of his sentence. This political prisoner was transferred to solitary confinement alongside Anwar Khodaverdi, another co-defendant, and spent 15 nights in solitary confinement awaiting execution.
Khosrow Besharat, a Sunni political prisoner of conscience, was arrested by the Intelligence Agency of Mahabad in December 2009 when he was only 23 years old. He was subsequently transferred to the Intelligence Detention Center in Urmia. He endured over a month of solitary confinement under torture.
Khosrow Besharat was arrested along with six other individuals, including Farhad Salimi, Anwar Khodaverdi, Ghasem Abesteh, Davood Abdullahi, Kamran Sheikheh , and Ayoub Karimi, by security forces. They were detained and transferred to the Intelligence Detention Center in Urmia.
These prisoners were sentenced to death by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, headed by Judge Moghiseh, on charges including “murder of Abdulrahim Tina.” They were also accused of offenses such as “acting against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” “membership in Salafi groups,” and “corruption on earth.”
The charges against these seven Kurdish religious prisoners were presented in March 2016, and on June 14, 2016, the mentioned verdict was officially communicated to them. The judiciary of Iran, in a non-transparent process and an unfair judicial proceeding, carried out the execution sentence against these political prisoners.
Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) condemns the execution of Khosrow Besharat, a political prisoner of conscience and calls upon the United Nations, the European Union, and their member states not to remain silent in the face of these executions. It condemns these state-sanctioned massacres and demands immediate and practical action to stop this bloodshed.
