Convicted of having ties to Kurdish separatists, monarchists --- Iran hangs five for being "enemies of God"

The five were executed in Tehran's Evin prison

TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iran hanged on Sunday five people, including a Kurdish woman, convicted of bombing government offices and a gas pipeline to Turkey and described as "enemies of God", state media reported.

The five, including the woman Shirin Alamhouli, were executed in Tehran's Evin prison, IRNA news agency said, quoting a statement from the capital's prosecution office.

The four others who were hanged were Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Eslamian.

"They were convicted of carrying out terrorist acts, including bombings of government centers and public properties in several Iranian cities," the prosecutor's office said without giving the location of the bombings.

Alamhouli, Kamangar, Heidarian and Vakili belonged to the Kurdish minority of Iran, according to the European Union and several websites that report on human rights issues.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has previously said that Kamangar, a teacher, had been sentenced to death for having links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought a deadly insurgency against Turkey.

The incidents appeared to have taken place before disputed elections last year that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office, creating a protest movement the authorities have tried to crush.

Kamangar, Heidarian and Vakili were given the death penalty in 2006 and their sentences were condemned by the European Union.

Some websites have reported that Alamhouli, 28, was arrested in May 2008 in Tehran and charged with having ties with PJAK, an offshoot of PKK.

The websites said the fifth convict Eslamian was arrested in May 2008 for having links with the monarchist group Kingdom Assembly of Iran.

His younger brother reportedly was hanged two years ago for his role in the bombing of a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz in April 2008 which left more than a dozen dead and 200 wounded.

Kingdom Assembly of Iran is an Iranian opposition group to the Islamic regime. It aims to restore the constitutional monarchy that was abolished by the 1979 revolution.

The latest hangings bring to at least 61 the number of people executed in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports. Last year, at least 270 people were hanged.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/05/09/108090.html