On 9th May five Kurds (Ferzad Kemanger, Ferhad Wekili, Ali Heyderiyan, Mahdi Islamian and Schirin Elmholi) were executed in Iran. As a result there were protests in the areas inhabited mainly by Kurds. The protests turned into a general strike on 15th May 2010. Shops and businesses were closed in many towns, particularly in Mahabad, Seqiz, Kamyaran, Qurwe, Bane, Meriwan, Şino, Diwandere, Bokan, Nexede, Bicar, Mako and Sine. The Kurdish students boycotted lectures.

TIran arrests arbitrarily people who have been declared "enemies of the Islamic Republic”. Constitutional procedure is unknown. Minorities have no protection. The Iranian government regards among others political representatives of the religious and ethnic minorities as "enemies”. The prisoners are often tortured and raped before their execution, which is often public. The lawyer, like the family, is often not even informed of the execution. This could also have been the case with the political prisoner Mahmoud Ghorbanpour. The Kurd has been in custody since October 2009 without any charge being brought against him. The Iranian authorities refuse to give any information as to his whereabouts or his state of health. His family is left with nothing but hope.

His only crime is his open criticism of the Iranian policies towards Kurds. His arrest is a sign of the strict conditions under which some minorities have to live in Iran. Although Iran has signed the international pact on civil and political rights of the United Nations even persons who were minors at the time of the crime are still being executed.

In Iran the death penalty still applies for murder, adultery (victims of rape are also adulterers), drug-dealing, repeated consumption of alcohol, homosexuality and breaking with Islam. Other frequent cases of death sentences are members of the opposition and politically active members of ethnic and religious minorities. If a lawyer for the defence is appointed it is extremely seldom for him to be allowed to attend the trial or to speak to his client. Often the lawyer, like the family, is not even informed of the execution and they learn of it only later through the media.

Iran is second to China in the frequency of the death penalty. According to Amnesty International 388 executions took place last year, but experts surmise that the number of unreported cases lies much higher.

Please support our appeal to the Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, demanding a clear answer on the fate of the political prisoner Mahmoud Ghorbanpour.

Link for the On-line appeal