Iranian Security Forces Surround Selmas Following Execution of Kurdish Political Prisoner

Protets are contiuning in Eastern Kurdistan following the execution of îlham Mamedî

Iranian police and soldiers have surrounded the city of Selmas and forbidden entry to area following the execution of the Kurdish political activist İlham Mamed yesterday, October 26th, according to a report in ANF. The execution came on the same day that the Iranian regime executed another Kurdish prisoner, Habibullah Gulperipur, in Urmiye prison.

The city is in lock-down owing to regime fears of a public backlash following the execution. İlham Mamedi was born in Selmas, in the province of Western Azerbaijan, in 1978. The city is home to a mix of Kurds, Azeris, Assyrians, Armenians, and Persians, and the city has played an important role in the history of Eastern Kurdistan. Mamedi was known to have been from a family that was active in the Kurdish movement. Before his arrested he had worked in border trade, and had been married with two children. However his family was killed in a fire that broke out because of a tear-gas bomb in 2006.

He was arrested in 2008 and charged with supporting PJAK and being an enemy of the Iranian revolution. He was subject to severe torture and eventually sentenced to death by the Xoy Republican Courts.  This year the sentence was reduced to 25 years imprisonment, according to his lawyer, but for reasons unknown he was taken from Selmas prison to an undisclosed location on the 25 of October and his family was notified of his execution and burial on the morning of the 26th.

A large group of family members, mostly women, were reported to have gone to collect the body so that it could buried in the village of Derik. However the women were prevented from proceeding and set upon by security forces, in which the course of which some of them physically assaulted. Eventually the security forces released the body on the condition that the burial take place discreetly.  During the washing of the corpse evidence of severe torture was discernible, according to family members. Local secuirty forces have also forbidden locals from gathering in mosques. As of today protests are continuing throughout Eastern Kurdistan.

Hebibullah Gulperipur, another Kurdish political prisoner, was executed the same day