Political prisoner Haidar Ghorbani was executed by the Iranian government in Sanandaj prison at dawn on Sunday, December 19, 2021.
According to social media reports, Haidar Ghorbani was executed without prior notice by the order of the regime’s judiciary.
The state-run Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, wrote about this event: “The death sentence of Haidar Ghorbani on charges of baghi (armed rebellion against the state), complicity in the premeditated murder of three Kurdish Sunni citizens of Kurdistan, and membership in a rebellious and criminal group were carried out today, December 19, 2021, in Sanandaj prison.”
The people of Sanandaj have gathered in front of his house on Sunday following the secret execution of political prisoner Haidar Ghorbani.
Previously, UN human rights experts issued a statement expressing concern over the imminent execution of this Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death and imprisoned in Sanandaj Prison and calling on the Iranian government to suspend the execution of this Kurdish citizen.
Amnesty International wrote: “Iranian Kurdish prisoner Heidar Ghorbani is at imminent risk of execution for “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi), despite serious fair trial violations and the trial court confirming that he was never armed. In August 2021, the Supreme Court rejected his second request for judicial review. His conviction is based on torture tainted “confessions” obtained while he was forcibly disappeared.”
According to reports released after the execution of political prisoner Haidar Ghorbani, regime intelligence agents arrested his brother Hassan Ghorbani after protesting the secret execution of his brother.
Saeed Afkari, the brother of the executed political prisoner Navid Afkari, wrote about this on Twitter; “Haidar was another victim of their rope. It was as if Navid Afkari was executed once again. Once again, we are filled with anger because of the killing of another of us. We will never be the same again as yesterday. Be afraid of our anger, be afraid of the day when these streams will unite.”
It should be noted that Saleh Nikbakht, the political prisoner’s lawyer, said that he had talked to him at 7:53 p.m. Tehran’s time yesterday and that he had not been informed of his execution until then.
The political prisoner had stated in a conversation with this lawyer that the case was to be reconsidered by the order of the head of the judiciary to consider the request for the application of Article 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the judiciary of Kurdistan province and the result should be notified to the head of the judiciary.
It should be noted that on September 30, 2016, several members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed by gunmen in the village of Takht-e Zangi in the central part of Kamyaran, and about two weeks later, on October 16, 2016, Haidar Ghorbani and two other residents of villages in the Javorud region were arrested in connection with this event.
