KMMK-G said that Iran has so far executed at least 64 Kurdish prisoners, killed 57 kulbar (border couriers) and injured 120.
Landmine remnants of 1980 war with Iraq killed 7 Kurds, as well.
KMMK-G also reported that Iranian Kurdistan endures high levels of unemployment and discriminatory policies. Although ethnic constituents are highly diverse in Iran, it’s alleged that the Persian-Shiite group holds ultimate state power. In fact, Article 1 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran declares the Twelver Shi’a School of Islam as the formal religion of the state.
The Iranian 1995 Selection Law that is based on Religious and Ethical Standards known as the “gozinesh” affects the equality of employment opportunity for for persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, according to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
At least 64 Kurdish prisoners were executed in the first half of this year, according to KMMK-G’s collected data. The report said, “About 50% of these prisoners were executed for drug-related crimes, about 30% for murder and others for membership in Kurdish opposition parties and other such allegations.”
Despite secrecy surrounding executions, and the fact that the names and the ethnicity or whereabouts of the executed prisoners are not published, KMMK-G claims to have been able to identify at least some of those executed.
Morteza Rahmani, a Kurdish political prisoner, and Seyed Jamal Mousavi, charged with religious (Sunni) and belief-related allegations, were executed, KMMK-G says, and adds that the majority of these executions take place after unfair trials and for crimes that do not constitute the “most serious crimes” under international law.
Taimoor Eliassi, founder of the organization said, “In this context, drug-related offenses and the execution of individuals on vaguely worded offenses, such as moharebeh or “enmity against God” are examples of insufficient and unfair forms of crime formulation.” He also said that the Kurdish prisoners face unfair trials. He alleged that they suffer abuses including the use of confessions obtained under torture, and denial of access to a lawyer.
The number of Kurdish executions is dramatically high in proportion to the population of Iran, and Kurdish political imprisonment remains dramatically high in 2017. Kurdish political prisoners represent almost half of the total number of political prisoners in the country, according to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Eliassi added that the Islamic Republic has executed more than one-fifth of the Kurdish prisoners outside Kurdish region, in provinces like Qazween, Hamedan and Rasht.
“Thus far in 2017, at least 1828 Kurdish citizens have been detained for a variety of reasons, and often in groups, for environmental rights advocacy, eating while supposed to be fasting during the month of Ramadan, working as border couriers, cheering for the Kurdish referendum in neighboring Kurdistan of Iraq held in September 2017, and other such charges,” KMMK-G reported.
The daily life of civilian, such as farmers, nomads, shepherds and traders, are marred by high rates of unemployment, and land contamination caused by landmines and explosive remnants of the Iran-Iraq war. To earn a living, Kurdish youth and farmers from four Kurdish provinces engage in smuggling commodities, such as tea, tobacco and fuel. The indiscriminate killings of Kurdish Kulbaran (border couriers) continues to be high in 2017. However, KMMK-G claims, “Border security forces involved in indiscriminate and blind killings do not respect Iranian domestic laws, which authorize the use of lethal force only as a last resort.”
While several international bodies and entities such as the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Iran (2010) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (January 2016) have urged the Islamic Republic to clear its territory of landmines and all the remnants of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), still, the Islamic Republic refuses to cooperate with international NGOs and entities and to ratify the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.
It is reported that more than 20 million landmines were planted in Kurdistan and Khuzestan provinces during to eight years-long Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988).
