Kurdish activists Hiwa Butimar and Adnan Hasanpoor have had their appeals rejected and have been sentenced to death by Iran’s Revolutionary Court, the Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organisation (IMHRO) reported on April 18, 2008.
Sources:
Iranian Minorities’ Human Rights Organisation (IMHRO)
Defend International

Two Kurdish journalists and activists, Hiwa Butimar (29) and Adnan Hasanpoor (27), have been sentenced to death by branch number one of the Revolutionary Court in Mariwan city, for a second time. They were found guilty of ‘moharebe’ (taking up arms against the Islamic state) and espionage.

The Iranian government accused them of selling arms to Kurdish guerrilla fighters connected to P.K.K, which all of the Kurdish political parties strongly repudiate. On October 22, 2007,the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the sentence to death of Mr. Hasanpoor issued on July 9, 2007 by the Revolutionary Tribunal in Marivan, for, inter alia, “diffusion of separatist propaganda”, “treason” and “collaboration with Kurdish political opposition parties”.

IMHRO understands from sources inside Kurdistan that Hiwa Butimar has been in solitary confinement for more than a year and has undergone torture.

Hiwa Butimar’s brother, Hadi Butimar told IMHRO that his appeal against the sentence was referred to the same judge in Mariwan city, who confirmed it for a second time.

This is totally unacceptable, and shows clearly the summary and arbitrary nature of executions in Iran. How can an appeal case be referred to the same judge?

Reza Washahi, campaigner for minorities’ rights, told IMHRO: “How can the Iranian court accept the confession of a person who was under torture for more than a year? Why does the Iranian government not allow UN special representatives to visits prisons in Iran, especially Kurdish prisons? Why is Amnesty International not allowed to have an office in Iran or to have been allowed to visit Iran during the last 30 years?”

IMHRO strongly supports the abolition of the death penalty in Iran and calls on the Iranian government to stop the death sentence passed on Hiwa Butimar and Adnan Hasanpoor and to release these Kurdish journalists.
Hiwa Butimar won a Freedom of the Press reward in Italy in November of 2000.

Background
The Kurdish minority in Iran which numbers up to 6 million people live in the west midland, north-west and north-east areas of Iran. Iranian Kurdish people are denied social and political rights. Various human rights organisations report that hundreds of Kurds are in prison, some of them there for a very long time.

Recently reports indicate that there is huge arsenic pollution in the city of Ghorweh as a result of gold mining by Chinese companies in Sargonay mine in south-east Kurdistan.

Action
Write a letter to one of the following and express your concern about the two Kurdish journalists, Hiwa Butimar and adnan Hasanpoor. Call on the Iranian government to stop their execution and to release them immediately.

Template Letter:

Your Excellency,

I am writing you to express my deepest concern regarding the confirmation of the death sentences of Mr. Adnan Hasanpoor and Mr. Abdel Wahid (Hiwa) Butimar.

I urge you to commute Mr. Hasanpoor and Mr. Butimar’s death sentences immediately and to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Hasanpoor and Mr. Butimar.

I call on you to release them immediately and unconditionally since their detention is arbitrary, as it only seems to sanction their human rights activities. I also urge you to ensure that they have access to adequate medical treatment and put an end to all acts of harassment against all Iranian human rights defenders.

Furthermore I urge you to conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, Article 6 (b) which stipulates that “everyone has the right […] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms”, as well as Article 12(2), which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”.

Finally I urge you to ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I hope for your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours respectfully,

Please send your appeal to:

Secretary-General United Nations
Hon. Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
Supreme leader of Iran
Sayyed Ali Khamenei
E-mail via web site
http://www.leader.ir/

Iranian president
Mahmud Ahmadinejad
E-mail via web site
http://www.president.ir/en/

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms Louise Arbour
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Chairwoman of European parliament Human Rights committee
Ms Hélène FLAUTRE
Bureau d’Hélène Flautre au Parlement européen8G130, rue WierzB-1049, Bruxelles, Belgique