ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Six Sunni Kurds were executed by Iranian authorities, a day after the United Nations expressed concern about Tehran’s rights violations against religious minorities and others.
Reports from Iran said that Hamed Ahmadi, Kamal Mollaei, Hadi Husseini, Sedigh Mohamadi, Jamshid Dehghani and Jahangir Dehghani were hanged Wednesday morning at the Rajaie prison in the town of Karaj, outside Tehran.
Four of the victims had been charged in the assassination of an MP in Iran’s Kurdistan province, but Amnesty International quoted them as saying they were arrested 10 months before that killing. They were later charged with collaborating with Kurdish opposition groups.
Two others had been charged with collaborating with extremist Sunni Salafi groups.
Reports quoted family members of the Sunni Kurds as saying they were told by authorities to come to the prison Tuesday for their last meetings with loved ones.
Meanwhile, in its annual report on Iran Tuesday, the United Nations expressed concern at the "deeply troubling" number of executions in the Islamic Republic last year and accused authorities of not honoring a promise to protect ethnic and religious minorities.
The report from the office of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Iran was believed to have executed at least 500 people between January and November last year, saying most did not get a fair trial and that the majority were drug offenders.
The report accused Iran of rights violations against religious minorities, women, journalists and activists.
It said Iran had not kept President Hassan Rouhani's promise to "extend protection to all religious groups and to amend legislation that discriminates against minority groups."
It added that, "Individuals seeking greater recognition for their cultural and linguistic rights risk facing harsh penalties, including capital punishment."
Iran’s estimated six million Kurds live in some of the country’s most deprived regions.
"The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continuing large number of executions, including of political prisoners and juveniles," the UN report said, reiterating its call for a moratorium on the death penalty and a ban on executing youths.
Last month Iran went ahead with the execution of a Kurdish man arrested as a teenager, ignoring pleas by international rights group for his life.
Kurdish activists in Iran also have complained that Rouhani, who was elected last June and had promised greater Kurdish rights during his election campaign, has not lived up to his promises.
Three Kurds were executed by Iranian authorities shortly after Rouhani was elected.
In 2013, Iranian authorities acknowledged the execution of 369 prisoners. Amnesty International reports that the actual number has been more than 700.
Iran continues to remain the second largest executioner in the world, after China.
