Two Iranian Kurds have been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad.
The Mokerian News Agency reports that Ali and Habib Afshari, who were arrested last year and are currently being held in Oroumiyeh Prison, have received the death sentence for the charge of “enmity with God through propaganda activities and membership in a dissident group.”
Reports indicate that the prisoners have 20 days to appeal the court decision.
In the past three years, at least seven Kurdish political prisoners were hanged by Islamic Republic authorities, and another 17 Kurdish prisoners are currently on death row in Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Court has approved the death sentence for Saeed Malekpour, who was charged with “propaganda against the regime through obscene websites and offending sanctities, insulting the leader and the president, links to dissident groups and corruption on the Earth.”
Malekpur is a resident of Canada and was arrested three years ago during a trip to Iran.
In the past two years, in the wake of the controversial 2009 and the allegations of vote fraud that led to mass demonstrations, the number of executions in Iran has made a substantial jump, which is persistently being challenged by human rights activists.
According to Amnesty International, at least 600 people were executed in Iran in 2011, and most of them were hanged for drug charges.
