The Persian country resorted to executions once more, becoming a country with on of the highest rates of execution in the world. This time victims were 5 Iranian citizens -4 of them Kurds- accused of terrorism. According to human rights organizations, the legal proceedings of indictment were irregular: there was absence of a jury during the 2008 trial and the accused, their families and their lawyers were not informed about the executions, which is a gross infringement of Iranian law. After the assassination on May 9, Iranian authorities did not release the dead bodies to the families for fear of demonstrations during the funerals.

Amnesty International states that the indicted were denied a fair trial, and that it is proved that three of them were tortured and the other two were forced to "confess" under duress. Out of the 4 Kurds, Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili were accused of belonging to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), while 28 years old Shirin Alam-Holi, the only girl of the group, was sentenced for allegedly being a member of the PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan), which is considered a terrorist organization by the Iranian.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says executions are "are the latest examples of the government's unfair use of the death penalty against ethnic minority dissidents". One of HRW spokesmen, Joe Stork, declared that the judiciary "routinely accuses Kurdish dissidents, including civil society activists, of belonging to armed separatist groups and sentences them to death in an effort to crush dissent".

The fifth person executed, Mehdi Eslamian, was accused of providing financial assistance to allegedly bomb a mosque April 2008.

Iran is one of the 4 states, alongside Iraq, Turkey and Syria, with Kurdish population, and had the second highest rate of executions throughout the year 2009 -a minimum of 388- after China. There are currently 17 Kurdish activists in the death corridor with similar charges to those executed this week.

Further information:

• AI: Iran executes five political prisoners
• HRW: Iran: Executed Dissidents 'Tortured to Confess'
• NYTimes.com: Relatives of Kurds Executed in Iran Are Denied the Remains, and 2 Are Arrested