International call for urgent action
to save the lives of death row prisoners, especially political prisoners
On Sunday morning, in a heinous crime, despite widespread international protests, the clerical regime, hanged political prisoners of Arab descent Jassim Heydari, Ali Khosraji, Hossein Seylavi, and Nasser Khafajian, in the Sepidar prison in Ahvaz.
The so-called revolutionary court in Ahvaz sentenced Ali Khosraji, 29, Jassem Heidari, 31, Hossein Seylavi, 33, and Naser Khafajian, Khuzestan residents, to death on the bogus charge of “Moharebeh” (waging war against God). The regime’s Supreme Court subsequently upheld these criminal sentences.
The four political prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement during the March 2020 rebellion in Sheiban Prison. On January 23, 2021, Ali Khosraji, Hossein Seylavi, and Jassem Heydari went on a hunger strike to protest the ban on prisoners’ family visits and the prison guard’s mistreatment of prisoners.
Besieged by incurable internal and external crises and unable to deal with escalating and widespread protests, including the Sistan and Baluchestan uprising, the clerical regime has found the only way out of these crises in increasing repression, torture, and executions.
The Iranian Resistance strongly condemns the criminal executions of these political prisoners and once again urges the United Nations Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for human rights as well as the UN Human Rights Council, and the European Union, to take urgent actions to save the lives of death row prisoners, especially political prisoners. It also reiterates the need for an international fact-finding mission to visit Iranian prisons and visits prisoners. The case of human rights violations in Iran must be referred to the UN Security Council, and the regime’s leaders must be brought to justice for four decades of crimes against humanity.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
March 1, 2021
