Ehsan Fattahian is a 27-year old Kurdish activist and a member of the Kurdish opposition group Komala. Ehsan was arrested when he was visiting with his family in Kamiyaran. He was initially sentenced to 10-years in prison, but the order was changed later to execution.
Ehsan's only crime is being Kurdish and being a member of an opposition group. There is no other charge against him. On Sunday he was informed that his execution will be in order for Wednesday in Sanandaj Prison. Ehsan has been on dry hunger strike since Sunday.
Human rights activists inside and outside Iran have been trying to stop the execution. Several other Kurdish activists have announced that they will too go on a hunger strike if the order is not stopped. Human rights activists have called people to gather in front of Sanandaj prion at 2:30 am on Wednesday to stop this unjust order.
The following is from Ehsan's letter from Sanandaj prison:
Let me add that, shortly before my sentence was changed to the death sentence, I was taken from Sanandaj prison to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center, where I was asked to make a false confession on camera, show remorse for the actions I had not committed and reject my beliefs. I did not give in to their illegitimate demands, so I was told that my prison sentence would be changed to the death sentence. They were fast to keep their promise and prove to me how courts always concede to the demands of intelligence and non-judicial authorities. How can one criticize the courts then?
All judges take an oath to remain impartial at all times and in all cases, to rule according to the law and nothing but the law. How many of the judges of this country can say that they have not broken their oath and have remained fair and impartial? In my opinion the number is countable with the fingers on my hand. When the entire justice system in Iran orders arrests, trials, imprisonments and death sentences with the simple hand gesture of an uneducated interrogator, what is to be expected from a few minor judges in a province that has always been discriminated against? Yes, in my view, it is the foundation of the house which is in ruins.
Last time I met in prison with the prosecutor who had issued the initial indictment, he admitted that the ruling was illegal. Yet, for the second time, it has been ruled that my execution should be carried out. It goes without saying that the insistence to carry out the execution at any cost is a result of pressures exercised by political and intelligence groups outside the Judiciary. People who are part of these groups look at the question of life and death of a prisoner only based on their own political and financial interests. They cannot see anything but their own illegitimate objectives, even when it is the question of a person’s right to life - the most basic of all human rights. How pointless is it to expect them to respect international treaties when they don’t even respect their own laws?
Last word: if the rulers and oppressors think that, with my death, the Kurdish question will go away, they are wrong. My death and the deaths of thousands of others like me will not cure the pain; they will only add to the flames of this fire. There is no doubt that every death is the beginning of a new life.
Ehsan Fattahian,
Sanandaj Central Prison
Amnesty International's call for urgent action:
Please help however you can to stop Ehsan's execution and ask them to pressure the Iranian government to stop Ehsan's execution.
1) Call/ write to Amnesty International, UNHCR and the Red Cross
2)Call ypur friends, your local media and your legislatures, explain the situation and ask them to help Ehsan.
3) Sign the following petition:
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