Threats against Iranian Families of Kurdish Prisoners on Death Row

The families of four Iranian Kurdish political prisoners who have been condemned to death on charges of "collaboration with Israel" have been threatened by Iranian security institutions for seeking information about their fate or whereabouts.

Mohsen Mazloum, Pezhman Fatehi, Vafa Azarbar and Mohammad (Hajir) Faramarzi are members of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

The four men aged in their 20s were arrested in West Azerbaijan province in July 2022 “while trying to carry out an explosion in Isfahan's industrial facilities," state media reported the following month.

The accusations were rejected by the families and Komala as groundless.

Earlier in January, it was reported that their death sentences had been upheld by the Supreme Court, and they are now at grave risk of arbitrary execution following a grossly unfair trial marred by allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.

According to information obtained by IranWire, their relatives have had no information about the prisoners since their arrest, and their repeated pleas to have face-to-face meetings with them have been left unanswered.

"I cannot explain my current condition and now is not the time to succumb to despair," Mazloum’s wife, Joana Tamisi, told IranWire. "We must amplify the voices of my husband and his innocent friends as much as possible."

According to Tamisi, the mothers and fathers of the political prisoners traveled from the cities of Mahabad, Kamyaran, Dehgolan and Bukan, in West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces, to Tehran to demand a meeting with their loved ones, prevent the execution of their sentences and a fair retrial.

On January 14, the parents gathered outside Evin prison, where the four political prisoners are held, and security forces surrounded them in an attempt to intimidate them. 

The houses where they were staying were also surrounded by security agents.

Tamisi recounted another incident where two mothers were promised a meeting with their sons in Evin prison, only to be threatened upon entering the facility.

They were told that their sons were absent and that their presence in the prison would make their situation worse.

In Mahabad, Tamisi’s brother-in-law was summoned by the Intelligence Department and told to bring the family back from Tehran or "they will be sentenced to death too."

Regarding the judicial process, Tamisi said that the family lawyer, Masoud Shamsnejad, has not been granted access to the case documents. 

Shamsnejad has rejected the death sentence imposed on his client as unfair and unjust. 

The charges against the four convicts remain unclear.

Tamisi emphasized the psychological distress in the families, particularly on Fatehi's five-year-old son. 

"The innocence of a child confronted with the concept of execution and the death penalty made his mental state unstable," she said. 

Tamisi mentioned that forced “confessions” from her husband and his friends were broadcast on state TV twice in the initial months after their arrest. 

After the death sentences were confirmed, these “confessions” were aired again, further increasing the families' fear of their imminent execution.