The Iranian authorities are responsible for the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance against prisoner Hedayat Abdollahpour and his family, and must reveal the full truth concerning his secret execution and return his body to his family, Amnesty International said today. The organization is also calling on the Iranian authorities to account for why they led his family and lawyers to believe that he was still alive for weeks after he was forcibly disappeared. Hedayat Abdollahpour, a Kurdish prisoner on death row, was transferred on 9 May from the Central Prison of Urumieh, in West Azerbaijan province, to an undisclosed location. Over the following four weeks, the authorities refused to provide his family and lawyers with any information regarding his fate or whereabouts, therefore subjecting him to enforced disappearance. Following repeated requests for information, his family were last week given a death certificate that stated he had “died” on 11 May. The certificate states his death was as a result of “being hit by hard or sharp objects” and does not clarify that the death resulted from an execution - even though his family was told on 10 June that he had been executed in secret. Amnesty International has previously documented this phrase being used on the certificates of deaths from gunshot wounds. The whereabouts of his body continues to be concealed by the authorities. “The relentlessly cruel games the Iranian authorities are playing with Hedayat Abdollahpour’s family must stop. By refusing to reveal the truth, they are deliberately causing untold distress to his loved ones,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. “Hedayat Abdollahpour’s body must be returned to his family, and an independent investigation must be conducted into the circumstances surrounding his secret execution and ongoing enforced disappearance.” Secrecy surrounding circumstances of death On 24 June, Hedayat Abdollahpour’s family were provided with a death certificate at the National Organization for Civil Registration in Oshnavieh, West Azerbaijan province, stating that he had “died” in Urumieh on 11 May as a result of “being hit by hard or sharp objects”. Amnesty International believes this is consistent with reported claims made by the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) that Hedayat Abdollahpour had been executed by firing squad in a Revolutionary Guards military base in Oshnavieh. On 10 June, a prosecution official verbally told Hedayat Abdollahpour’s family that he had been executed in Oshnavieh, but he was not allowed to provide them with further information. To date, Hedayat Abdollahpour’s lawyers have not been notified of his execution, in contravention of Iranian law. --- --- ...
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