HALT The Execution of Iranian Kurdish Political Prisoner Bakhtiar Memari

A local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Bakhtiar Memari, 35, a Marivan Kurdish citizen, who has been in prison since August 2010, is on death row on charges of "moharebeh (enmity with God) through membership in a Kurdish political party." Memari was officially informed of his sentence inside Sanandaj Prison on May 10, 2012.

According to the human rights source, security forces arrested Bakhtiar Memarimon on August 3, 2010 in Marivan and transferred him to the Sanandaj Intelligence Office. He was interrogated under torture for three weeks during which he was not allowed to visit or call his family.

In Bakhtiar Memari's defense bill, a copy of which the Campaign has been able to see, it is reflected that the court has not presented any evidence for Memari's accusations and that the ruling was entirely based on Bakhtiar Memari's confessions, which Memari said in court were extracted from him under pressure and through brutal beating and injuries by his interrogators. Bakhtiar Memari repeatedly denied his charges during the trial process.

A source close to the family of Bakhtiar Memari has stated that Bakhtiar Memari has been additionally accused of murdering two individuals based on orders from a British intelligence organization, charges which Memari repeatedly denied in court. The court has not produced any evidence, witnesses, or weapons that could substantiate or support these accusations, solely basing the charges on Bakhtiar Memari's confessions extracted under duress, which were videotaped and broadcasted on PressTV.

"After about three months, Sanandaj Intelligence Office forces took a handcuffed and footcuffed Bakhtiar Memari, along with a camera crew, to his father's home, where he was allowed to visit with his wife and children. The forces then said that because this was his last visit with his family. The intelligence forces then took Memari to the homes of two Krudish citizens who had been murdered some time before, introduced him as their murderer, and videotaped the visit. Subsequently, PressTV aired the recording in its Iran Today segment. In January 2012, Bakhtiar Memari was additionally sentenced to death for murder, based on Qisas Law."

Bakhtiar Memari is currently on death row inside Sanandaj Central Prison. He is allowed to visit with his family once a month.

Meanwhile, more than 27 Sunni Kurd prisoners are on the death row on the charge of Moharebeh, propaganda against the regime and acting against national security in Rajai Shahr prison as the reports mentioned. Six Kurdish political prisoners were hanged at dawn on March 4, 2015.