It has been seven years since the execution of three Kurdish political prisoners: Zaniar Moradi, Loghman Moradi and Ramin Hossein Panahi. Carried out in September 2018 at Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj, their executions remain one of the most striking examples of human rights violations in Iran.
The three men were sentenced to death by Revolutionary Courts on charges of armed rebellion (baghi), enmity against God (moharebeh) and belonging to the Komala Party. They repeatedly rejected these accusations, insisting that their confessions had been extracted under torture. Their trials were described as closed, hasty and lacking in the minimum standards of fairness.
Despite widespread appeals from international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and UN Special Rapporteurs, the death sentences were suddenly carried out in September 2018 without prior notice to their lawyers.
Following the executions, the bodies of Zaniar, Loghman and Ramin were buried in secret. To this day, the burial sites have never been disclosed. Civil rights activists have described this as part of a systematic policy of denying families the right to mourn.
The executions triggered a wave of international condemnation. Human rights organisations described the executions as a ‘state crime’, emphasising that coerced confessions and unfair trials constituted a blatant violation of fundamental human rights principles.
These executions were not an isolated incident but rather part of a broader policy of repressing ethnic minorities and political dissidents in Iran. Human rights experts argue that such cases reflect a recurring pattern of arbitrary arrests, torture, forced confessions and closed-door trials.
On the seventh anniversary of these executions, the case of Zaniar Moradi, Loghman Moradi and Ramin Hossein Panahi remains a stark reminder of political repression and systematic human rights violations in Iran.