Kurdish Political Prisoner Mohiyedin Ebrahimi at Imminent Risk of Execution

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Kurdish political prisoner Mohiyedin Ebrahimi was transferred from the political prisoners’ ward in Urmia Central Prison to solitary confinement. As his death sentence has already been upheld, there is increased concern that his execution may be imminent.

43-year-old Mohiyedin Ebrahimi was arrested by IRGC forces on 3 November 2017. At the time of arrest, both his legs were injured. He was sentenced to death on charges of baghy (armed rebellion) through membership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran by Branch Two of the Urmia Revolutionary Court in October 2018 which was overturned by Branch 16 of the Supreme Court. However, he was re-sentenced to death by the same Revolutionary Court branch.

His three lawyers, Messrs Muzayen, Alizadeh and Tataei stress that Mohiyedin Ebrahimi was working as a kolbar due to poverty and unemployment and that he should not be charged with carrying weapons or anti-government armed operations.

Mr Ebrahimi has two small special needs children and his brother who was also working as a kolbar was killed by border forces around three years ago.

His defence lawyer, Osman Muzayen previously told Iran Human Rights: “According to his court documents, our client isn’t a member of any organisation or group and has never participated in any armed operation or even in any political gatherings or activities inside or outside Iran. He was the breadwinner of two families and was working as a kolbar (human mule) in the border area. At the time of arrest, he was working as a kolbar when he was shot at. They found smuggled alcohol in his possession which is in the case.”

“But according to the officer on the scene, they found some weapons nearby which they’ve also attributed to our client, leading to him being charged with carrying a weapon. If a person is carrying alcohol, they’re not going to endanger themselves any further by also carrying firearms. And more importantly, there is absolutely no evidence in the case to prove that the weapons belonged to or were carried by our client,” he added.

Speaking about the breaches in the case, the lawyer said: “There were many miscarriages of justice in the investigation process conducted by the Urmia Revolutionary Court and Prosecutor’s Office who didn’t permit lawyers access to the case or client. To the point that Mr Ebrahimi was deprived of the right to a lawyer until after he received the death penalty in the preliminary hearing. He was forced to write the appeal to the Supreme Court himself despite having very little education. Having examined all the breaches in the case and the fact that there’s no evidence against him, three lawyers wrote their own appeal about his innocence but unfortunately, neither the Urmia Revolutionary Court nor the Supreme Court paid any attention. Our request for a retrial was rejected by the Supreme Court and our client’s death sentence is definitive which cannot be lawful according to the legal standards and principles of a fair trial.”

Full text of Mohiyedin Ebrahimi's letter to Iran Human Rights: 

To the honourable Iran Human Rights Directorate,

I, Mohiyedin Ebrahimi, son of Mohammad, write to you as a prisoner in the political ward of Urmia Central Prison. I was sentenced to death by Branch Two of the Urmia Revolutionary Court on the false and trumped up charges of carrying a weapon and contacting and collaborating with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), presided over by Judge Ali Sheikhlu. I have been under the unjust death sentence for five years and two months. I have filed several appeals and requests for due process rights from the Supreme Court and Head of Judiciary. Unfortunately, I’ve never received a response due to the influence of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation and their refusal to send the documents to the aforementioned authorities.

I support twelve people in my family in Oshnavieh and have been working as a kolbar (human mules who carry goods across border) for several years. On 17 November 2017, I was crossing the border from the Kurdistan region in Iraq with two horses and four carts in the dark of the night. Several other people were walking a few hundred metres ahead of me when border forces started shooting at them and they started running. The border forces shot at me as well and hit me on the leg, causing great injury. Two horses and four cartons of alcoholic beer were discovered and confiscated from me and I had to be transferred to the hospital. I was transferred to Oshnavieh by the border forces and after spending several days in hospital, I was transferred to the IRGC Intelligence Organisation’s detention centre. In their custody, I was faced with false and unbelievable accusations. While according to the border forces, I only had four cartons:

1. In addition to being in possession of alcohol, I was also accused of being in possession of weapons while in IRGC custody, and was also accused of contacting and collaborating with the KDPI, without any evidence or reason.
2. The judicial officer of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation claimed that I had a political rap sheet to mislead the proceedings while this is completely false, I had previously only been detained for a few days. The officer also stated that my brother was a member of the KDPI who’d been killed. This is also a lie to mislead the proceedings, my brother was a kolbar who was killed by border forces. At his funeral, even the Oshnavieh border commander came to pay his respects to my brother. The judicial officer repeatedly falsely stated that my father was also a member of the KDPI and that he was killed shortly after the revolution. My father was killed in those days due to tribal differences with Iraqi Kurds which had nothing to do with politics.

And all the false and fabricated accusations were to mislead fair legal proceedings, that’s why my case was tried by Branch 2 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Ali Sheikhlu.

Considering that this individual has a terrible track record and was previously fired from the Judiciary due to financial corruption, he is not qualified to be a judge. Under the orders of security agencies, he issued the sentence and even before sentencing, my family received threatening messages from the judiciary’s agents. But due to my innocence, my family refused to pay their ransom, which led to my death sentence by this man.

It has been five years since I was sentenced to the cruel sentence of death, and on the other hand, I am in a dire financial situation as I’m the breadwinner for a family of 12. I have a physically disabled child, my family have had to survive without any work or income throughout these years, they’ve endured a lot of pain and hardships. Despite my family’s best efforts in pursuit of my human and civil rights, I did not have due process or a fair trial.I have filed several appeals and requests for due process rights from the Supreme Court and Head of Judiciary. Unfortunately, I’ve never received a response due to the influence of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation and their refusal to send the documents to the aforementioned authorities. I am desperately plea to Iran Human Rights to help my family and I to stop my unjust execution to be carried out based on false and unfounded charges.

With kind regards.

Mohiyedin Ebrahimi, son of Mohammad

Urmia Central Prison