Kurdish Political Prisoner Ayoub Karimi At Risk of Execution in Karaj

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Kurdish political prisoner, Ayoub Karimi was transferred to solitary confinement in Karaj’s Ghezelhesar Prison on 21 November. Given that prisoners are normally transferred to solitary confinement prior to execution and that one of his co-defendants, Ghasem Abasteh, was executed weeks ago, his family and cellmates are gravely concerned for his life.

He was sentenced to death for charges of moharebeh (enmity against god) and efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through “armed action and membership in a Salafi jihadi group” in a case with seven defendants by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court in February/March 2016. One of their charges related to the death of a Sunni cleric named Mamousta Abdolrahim Tina.

Ayoub Karimi who is a Kurdish and Sunni minority, was arrested along with Ghasem Abasteh, Anwar Khezri, Davoud Abdollahi, Farhad Salimi, Khosro Besharat and Kamran Sheikheh in January 2010.

They were interrogated in Urmia before being transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. They were subsequently transferred to Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj where they were held until its closure in August when they were transferred to Ghezelhesar Prison. An informed source previously told IHRNGO that the seven political prisoners were physically and psychologically tortured to extract forced confessions.