Some reports indicate that the death sentence of Farhad Salimi, a Kurdish prisoner from Saqqez, was carried out this morning in Qazalhisar prison.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, quoting Mr. Salimi’s family, announced that “the execution of this political prisoner was carried out without prior notice and the right to have a last meeting with the family.”

Earlier, Amnesty International warned about the “imminent risk of execution” of this Kurdish prisoner from Saqqez, and in a call for immediate action, asked the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately stop the execution plan of this prisoner.

According to the Kurdpa news site, Farhad Salimi, Anwar Khezri, Kamran Sheikha, Khosrow Basharat, Dawood Abdollahi, Qasim Abaste and Ayoub Karimi were arrested by the security forces in the cities of Saqqez and Mahabad between the middle of December and the beginning of February 2008 and sent to the detention center of the Intelligence Department. They were transferred to Urmia.

Kurdpa says that “these 7 prisoners of conscience were subjected to physical and mental torture for several months in this security detention center to make forced confessions.”

In recent months, the death sentence of Dawood Abdollahi, Qasim Abaste and Ayoub Karimi, three of Farhad Salimi’s co-accused, has been executed.

Human rights activists say that the case of these prisoners was “very ambiguous and full of legal defects and unfair proceedings”.

The human rights organization Hangaw, while “strongly condemning” the execution of Farhad Salimi, has described the proceedings against him as “completely non-transparent, unfair and illegal”.

Mizan, the news website of Iran’s judiciary, also announced the execution of Mohammad Qabadlou, one of the detainees of last year’s nationwide protests, this morning.

According to the report of the Iranian Human Rights Organization, on the first 23 days of the new year, the Islamic Republic executed at least 51 people in Iran.