Three Kurdish prisoners executed in Iran

Sadiq Mahi, Ahmed Nematwand, and Mohammed Mahmoudi were executed by prison authorities at Urmia's central prison after they were transferred to solitary confinement, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Sunday.

They, along with three others, were sentenced on drug-related charges. The remaining three prisoners had their executions frozen for unknown reasons, the agency added.

"Iranian authorities use the death penalty as an instrument to create fear among people - just like the way Daesh did [Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group]," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, IHR director told Rudaw English.

"We are very aware of the fact that the number of executions in the ethnic regions of Iran, especially in Kurdish regions increased in 2020, compared to previous years and we have called on the international community to give special attention to the situation in Kurdistan and Baluchistan."

Moghaddam added that authorities would "back off" if "we manage to increase the political cost of executions".

The families of the prisoners were informed about their impending executions shortly before, according to the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.

Iran Human Rights organisation released an annual report saying that Iran executed at least 267 people in 2020, 280 people in 2019 and 273 in 2018.

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