Protests against the court order have been seen in Iran. Heidar Gorbani, a member of the Kurdish ethnic group, was recently executed. Protesters gathered in front of his house to protest. They chanted anti-government slogans. The BBC says such protests are rare in Iran.
Protesters gathered outside Haidar Gorbani’s home in the Kurdistan Region town of Kamiyaran, chanting slogans calling him a “martyr.”
Heydar Gorbani, 46, has been sentenced to death by a court for killing three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Haider, however, denied any involvement in the killings. Human rights groups say he was a political prisoner.
Apart from the killings, Gorbani was also convicted of being a member of the anti-government exiled armed group Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).
This armed group called PDI has been fighting for the greater autonomy of the Kurdish people of Iran.
Gorbani was executed on Sunday in the Sanandaj prison in northwestern Iran. This year, after the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, Iranian social media users launched several campaigns in protest.
Human rights groups claim Gorbani was convicted on the basis of evidence obtained through forced testimony. He was not given any lawyer during the investigation. The United Nations has called for the execution of Gorbani in September and for the abolition of his death sentence.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International has called on Tehran to suspend his death sentence and begin a new and transparent trial.
According to the BBC, the number of executions in Iran in recent years is higher than in any other country in the world except China.
At least 246 people were executed in Iran in 2020, Amnesty International said, adding that the number of executions in Iran was on the rise, cracking down on political opponents, protesters and ethnic minorities.
