Execution fears for Kurd prisoner Habibollah Golparipour

Habibollah Golparipour, a member of Iran's Kurdish minority on death row, has been transferred to Semnan Prison, northern Iran. His family has not been allowed to visit him since his transfer, and he may be at imminent risk of execution.

Habibollah Golparipour was arrested on 27 September 2009 while travelling between the north-western cities of Mahabad and Oroumieh. In a letter he wrote to the Supreme Leader which was published in December 2010 he alleged that he was tortured during interrogation. Habibollah Golparipour appeared before Branch 1 of Mahabad Revolutionary Court on 15 March 2010 and was sentenced to death after conviction of moharebeh (enmity against God) through cooperation with a proscribed armed group, the Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) after what he said was a five-minute trial. On 1 August 2010, Branch 31 of the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence and again on 9 June 2011 after judicial review. According to the court documents, Habibollah Golparipour denied any armed activity but said he had given money to the group and described his treatment. His allegations of torture or other ill-treatment are not known to have been investigated.

Habibollah Golparipour was recently transferred from Oroumieh Prison,to Semnan Prison. His family has been told they will not be allowed to visit him until after the end of the Iranian New Year holidays.

Amnesty International recognizes the right and responsibility of governments to bring those suspected of criminal offences to justice, but opposes the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Please write immediately in Persian, English or your own language:

- Urging the Iranian authorities not to carry out the execution of Habibollah Golparipour and to commute his death sentence and those of everyone else on death row, including other Kurdish political prisoners;

- Calling on them to ensure that Habibollah Golparipour is granted immediate and regular access to his family, his lawyer and any necessary medical treatment;

- Expressing concern that Habibollah Golparipour did not have a fair trial, and urging the authorities to investigate his allegations that he was tortured, and bring anyone found responsible for abuses to justice.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 2 MAY 2012 TO:

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Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader

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ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

Twitter: "Call on #Iran leader @khamenei_ir to halt the execution of Habibollah Golparipour"

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

According to court documents seen by Amnesty International, the arresting officers found Habibollah Golparipour with a memory stick containing photos, a mobile phone memory card, three pages containing tables of codes and 86 phone numbers; and 246 books, all said to relate to PJAK.

For the first five months of his detention Habibollah Golparipour was held in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps detention facility in Mahabad and a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Sanandaj, Kordestan province where he said he was tortured during interrogation. His family had no knowledge of his whereabouts for the first four months.

Kurds, who are one of Iran's many minorities, live mainly in the west and north-west of the country, in the province of Kordestan and neighboring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. They experience discrimination in the enjoyment of their religious, economic and cultural rights (see: Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority (MDE 13/088/2008, 30 July 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/088/2008/en). For many years, Kurdish organizations such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and the Marxist group Komala conducted armed activity against the Iranian government, but they no longer do so. The Party For Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) was formed in 2004, and carried out armed attacks against Iran's security forces, but declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2009, although it still engages in armed clashes with the security forces in what it terms "self-defense". Attacks on civilians, including judges have been carried out which the government has blamed on Kurdish groups, although often these groups have denied responsibility. In 2011, the Iranian and Turkish governments shelled border areas where armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and PJAK bases were thought to be located (see Turkey/Iraq: Investigation needed into killing of civilians in the Kurdistan region of Iraq,, REG 01/003/2011, 26 August 2011, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/REG01/003/2011/en)

Amnesty International condemns without reservation attacks on civilians, who include judges, clerics, and locally or nationally-elected officials, as attacking civilians violates fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. These principles prohibit absolutely attacks on civilians as well as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Such attacks cannot be justified under any circumstances.

At least 18 other Kurdish men are believed to be on death row in connection with their alleged membership of, and activities for, proscribed Kurdish organizations. Some have been sentenced to imprisonment, and later had their prison sentences increased to a death sentence at the appeal stage. At least 10 Kurds have reportedly been executed for political offences since November 2009; not all of these executions have been acknowledged by the Iranian authorities.

Torture and other ill-treatment is common in Iran, particularly during interrogation when detainees are routinely denied access to a lawyer and are often held incommunicado. For further information, see From Protest to Prison: Iran One Year after the Election, Index MDE 13/062/2010, June 2010, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/062/2010/en and Iran: Election Contested, Repression Compounded, Index MDE 13/123/2009, December 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/123/2009/en.

Name: Habibollah Golparipour (m)

Issue(s): Imminent execution, Torture, Death penalty

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