Iran: Labour activist and political opponents executed by Islamic regime of Iran

March 7, 2003

Labour activist and political prisoner, Mohammad Golabi, 35, was executed in the early hours of February 20, 2003 in the city of Saqez, according to the Kurdistan Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI). The execution was carried out during the visit of the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The regime buried Golabi before informing his family of his execution. His family removed his body and buried him themselves. Golabi, a father of four, was a militant worker and an organiser of several strikes in the brick factories of Saqez. He was arrested and imprisoned for his political and labour activities and was accused of and executed for 'fighting against the regime' and 'being in contact with opposition parties'.

According to an Amnesty International Urgent Action six others, all former members or supporters of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), were executed between 7 and 13 October 2002. They include Muhammad Sharverani, who had been sentenced to death in 2000; Khaled Shoghi, who was deported from Turkey, and arrested and tortured in 1997; Saleh Goudarzi, who was sentenced to death in 1999, and Jalil Zeva'i, who was tortured prior to his execution. Also executed were Hamzeh Ghaderi and an unidentified woman, possibly related to Hamzeh Ghaderi. According to the Urgent Action, there is no new information regarding others named in the original Urgent Action: Khaled Faraidouni, Nader Afani, Hasan Mahmoudi, Kheder Viesi, Rasul Abdollahpour, Anvar Alizadeh, Mohammad Esmailzadeh or Esmaili, Mohammad Mehdi Zaliye, and the five Arab rights activists, Fadhil Muqaddam, Rahim Sawari, Amir Sa'idi, Hashem Bawi and'Abbas Sherhani. Also on 5 November 2002 two men, Mostafa Jula and Ali Kak Jalil, both former members of Komala were reportedly executed in the city of Marivan.

The Campaign against Executions in Iran is outraged at the executions carried out by the Islamic regime and calls on international public opinion to condemn the Islamic regime of Iran for its policy of executions.

The Campaign against Executions in Iran unequivocally opposes capital punishment and calls for its abolition in all countries. The Campaign aims to:

* mobilise international protest against and condemnation of executions in Iran

* galvanise public pressure against the Islamic regime in Iran and its Western government supporters

* save the lives of those under execution sentences

* stop executions in Iran