NEKA (New England Kurdish Association) will protest The Iranian government today for the execution on May 9th of 4 Kurdish political prisoners. The vigil will be held at 3pm local time at Kennedy Plaza in Providence Rhode Island. In its statement NEKA urges everyone “to act upon this inhumane execution”.Today Kurdish people all over the world will be holding a vigil in honour of Kurdish activists who were executed by the Iranian regime.
The Iranian regime executed 5 activists on Sunday, May 9th at the infamous Evin prison and four of them were Kurds. Executed Kurds were Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam-Holi. Activists were accused of “enmity against God” and convicted in seven-minute trials and sentenced to death penalty. Whole trial process was a typical of trials for those who take up arms against the state.
Kurdish activists were hanged without prior warning to their relatives ands layers, which is against the Iranian law because Iranian law requires the authorities to notify prisoners’ lawyers in advance before carrying out executions.
Kurdish activists were tortured and forced to ‘confess’ under the torture. Farzad Kamangar, a teacher, had been held for seven months prior to being allowed to meet with his family. He told his family that he was tortured following his arrest in May 2006. He was whipped, held in a freezing cold room and guards played ‘football’ with his body, surrounding him and pummeling him as he was “passed” between guards. Mr. Kamanger wrote to the Interior Ministry and asking for permission to donate his organs to children (anywhere in the world) who needed them because he loved the children, which was why he become a teacher.
The only woman who was executed in the Kurdish group was Shirin Alam-Holi who said she had nightmares because of what her interrogators did to her. She was beaten, including on the soles of her feet, kicked in the stomach, causing internal bleeding, and when she went on hunger strike, force fed through nasal tubes which she ripped out in protest, damaging her nose.
The Iranian regime has arrested Shirin Alam-Holi’s mother and sister and threatened relatives of other executed Kurdish prisoners who demanded bodies of their loved ones.
With this execution, the Iranian regime tried to intimidate Kurdish minority as well as other opposition groups before June 12th, which is the anniversary of the last year’s disputed presidential election. However, Kurds responded with one voice by shutting down their businesses across Iranian Kurdistan despite the pressure from state security apparatus.