Three Ahwazi Arabs were executed in secret today following convictions for threatening national security, according to the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO).
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, first deputy of the Chief Justice, announced in June the death sentences against the three - Ghais Obidawi, Ahmad Obidawi and Sajad Balawi - as well as lengthy prison sentences and internal exile for four others. He accused them of "enmity with God", "corruption on the Earth", and "threatening national security" for alleged membership of an armed group that assassinated three members of the Revolutionary Guards. The attack on the Revolutionary Guards occured in April 2015 in the village of Alkamboah, Hamidiyah, west of Ahwaz City.
The seven were tried in secret without access to lawyers and were forced into making confessions following lengthy torture sessions. The confessions were broadcast on the English language Press TV station in May 2015.
AHRO notes that the executions come in the context of an escalation of state killings of Ahwazi Arabs and Kurds and accused the courts of failing to provide even the minimum standards of justice.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, first deputy of the Chief Justice, announced in June the death sentences against the three - Ghais Obidawi, Ahmad Obidawi and Sajad Balawi - as well as lengthy prison sentences and internal exile for four others. He accused them of "enmity with God", "corruption on the Earth", and "threatening national security" for alleged membership of an armed group that assassinated three members of the Revolutionary Guards. The attack on the Revolutionary Guards occured in April 2015 in the village of Alkamboah, Hamidiyah, west of Ahwaz City.
The seven were tried in secret without access to lawyers and were forced into making confessions following lengthy torture sessions. The confessions were broadcast on the English language Press TV station in May 2015.
AHRO notes that the executions come in the context of an escalation of state killings of Ahwazi Arabs and Kurds and accused the courts of failing to provide even the minimum standards of justice.
