Iran hangs five 'Kurdish rebels'

Iranian authorities have executed five prisoners accused of "carrying out terrorist acts", according to reports.


The five were understood to be members of a Kurdish rebel group, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Washington Post reported.

The four men and a woman were hanged at Evin prison in Tehran.
Their lawyers reportedly condemned the hangings saying that the accused were innocent, and their sentences had not been finalised.

But a statement from Iranian prosecutors said they were "convicted of carrying out terrorist acts, including the bombings of government centres and public properties in several Iranian cities."

'Bewildered'

The hanged men were named as Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili, Farzad Kamangar, Mehdi Eslamian, and the women was named as Shirin Alamhouli.

Lawyers for the accused said Kamangar was a teacher, and Alamhouli was an illiterate farmer.

"The decision to execute them was premade," Lawyer Khalil Bahramian told the Washington Post, "I'm bewildered".

Last week, Iranian elite troops killed five PJAK members in a gun battle in the west of the country.

PJAK was formed in 2004 and is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK, the Separatist group based in Turkey.

In January, Iranian forces clashed with Kurdish fighters in Iran's north western border region and arrested a suspect in the killing of a prosecutor.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8672384.stm

Related: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100505/ ... nrestkurds_20100505133100
http://cpj.org/2010/03/with-52-journa ... iran-hits-new-shamefu.php
http://persian2english.com/?p=4019
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/5/irankurd608.htm
http://www.hrtribune.net/View.aspx?id=205