Iran’s judiciary has executed Kurdish porters under charges including “moharebeh” (enmity against God), and “efsad-e fel-arz” (corruption on earth).
Iran’s judiciary ordered the execution of three Kurdish porters on the day the ceasefire between Israel and Iran was announced, BBC’s Farsi site reported on Friday, quoting the family of one of the three, who insisted that he was innocent.
According to the report, the three were arrested two years ago on charges of collaborating with the Mossad, by allegedly smuggling equipment to be used in assassinations of Iranian officials.
The judiciary is continuing arrests of dozens of Afghan refugees, Kurdish porters, and Iranian citizens on charges including “moharebeh” (enmity against God), and “efsad-e fel-arz” (corruption on earth), both of which can carry the death penalty.
“If someone is even slightly guilty, would they go on their own feet to a place where they know they will be arrested? He was innocent,” the cousin of one of those executed claimed.
The daughter of one of the executed porters is asking for the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in north Iraq to assist in bringing her father’s body home.
His family reportedly stated that they will not believe their relative was executed until they see his body.
A Kurdish alcohol smuggler leads a group of horses loaded with boxes of liquor to be smuggled to Iran from the border areas of Iraqi Kurdistan on May 8, 2017; illustrative. (credit: YOUNES MOHAMMAD/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
However, the KRG told the BBC that they have not received a formal request to assist in returning the body.
Kurdish porters often work across the border between KRG and Iran, transporting goods which are usually pre-packaged. The porters do not open the packages because Iranian buyers will only accept unopened goods, BBC reported.
“Even if the Islamic Republic’s claim is true, and these porters were transporting equipment for Mossad, Mossad would never tell them that it is for an assassination. Mossad can hide explosives in a pager, so it certainly can hide it in cigarette or perfume boxes,” BBC cited a KRG security official as saying.
“We have no evidence that equipment has been smuggled from Kurdistan to Iran. Mossad has high-level influence in Iran and doesn’t need porters in border villages,” the official added.
The three Kurds were alleged to have been transporting equipment used by Mossad to assassinate nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Human rights organizations speak out against Iranian execution
Human rights organizations are concerned that the executions were an attempt to “terrorize the population” of Iran rather than to punish the actual perpetrators of any crimes, following Israel’s airstrikes in June.
The three Kurds were executed “without a fair trial and based on confessions extracted under torture,” BBC cited Director of Iran Human Rights, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam as saying.
Activists also condemned the executions as “rushed and unjust.”