The Kurdistan Human Rights Network has released an urgent report on the situation of the six Kurdish political prisoners in the Central Urmiye prison. According to the report, sources inside the prison reported that on Wednesday 18th of February at exactly 10am local time, a number of plain clothed officers along with special guards entered section 12 of the prison where many of the Kurdish political prisoners were being held.
The guards first summoned the Kurdish prisoner Sirwan Najawi to the security office. However, as Sirwan was in the shower at the time he was not admitted. Instead, the prison guards summoned the brothers Ali and Habib Afshari, who were promptly tagged, handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded.
According to this source, Sirwan Najawi and Ibrahim Issapour were delivered to the guard’s door. Following this the security guards returned to prison room 12 again and asked for Saman Nasim, who was informed a few days before about the implementation of his execution. The guards then asked Nasim to leave with him through the main entrance door.
At this point Saman started shouting slogans, and a number of the prisoners started shouting slogans with him too. Following this disturbance, a number of guards entered the room and another detainee by the name of Kamal Silo was also requested to leave; for several moments the prison room was extremely tense. Finally, two more of the prisoners along with the five others were taking out of the room by the guards.
The source inside the prison highlighted what occurred next to Younes Aghaiyan. “Younes Aghayian was being held in prison room 1 when he was summoned. On being alerted as to the approach of the guards, he immediately attempted to contact his family. However, while attempting to contact his family the guards hauled him roughly out of the ward along with the five other prisoners noted above with extremely high security. He was likewise handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded, and along with a number of the plain clothed officers the prisoners left the prison complex.”
The source noted further that the “prison officials initially stated to the remaining political prisoners that their fellow detainees would be simply taken to another prison. This was similar to the situation of another political prisoner Ali Ahmad Salim, who only two weeks before and after participating in a hunger strike, was deported from Urmiye prison to another prison in Tabriz. However, through disconnecting the prison’s telephone lines, the heavy security presence in the prison and prevention of traffic of detainees from the various sections of the prison, there was a strong possibility that the execution of the prisoners was imminent. The officer responsible for distribution of information informed the political prisoners that the specified prisoners were being transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence and that their fate was in the hands of the Ministry.”
The Kurdish Human Rights Network contacted the families of Afshari, Najawi, Issapour and Nasim’s relatives on Saturday, 19th of February, following the release of the information about the removal of the prisoners. Officials of the organisation visited the Central Prison of Urimye and government authorities to obtain further details. However, the only official announcement by the prison authorities was to Nasim’s family, which merely included the court orders for the security forces to remove and relocate the prisoners, including Nasim, to an unknown location. The family was not given any further information as to the whereabouts of the prisoners, or their status. Following these events, the most recent contact from the prison authorities has been to the family of Saman Nasim. The security agent introduced himself to the family as an officer of the Central Prison of Urmiye and the contact phone number also further validated his location and position within the prison. The prison officer requested that Saman’s family must collect his personal belongings on Saturday 21st of February, indicating that Saman had been executed.
To date there is little to no information as to the fates of the other prisoners. However, it is a well-known fact that secret executions are a common risk for political prisoners in Iranian prisons.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network ─ KHRN