Human rights teams and the household of Kurdish political activist Yasser Mangouri mentioned he has died after being summoned by members of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Mangouri’s arrest occurred on July 17, however his dying was formally conveyed to his household over 50 days later.
In keeping with the Iranian Human Rights Activists Information Company (HRANA), the physique has but to be handed over to the household, which continues to be saved at the hours of darkness concerning the actual circumstances surrounding his dying. Since Mangouri was summoned and held incommunicado by Iran’s intelligence forces, his household had repeatedly approached the authorities for information on his whereabouts, however to no avail.
Hengaw, one other advocacy web site that displays developments in Iranian Kurdistan, quoted sources as saying that Mangouri had been “killed below torture.” In keeping with a tally recorded by the identical outlet, at the least 23 Kurdish prisoners, together with 15 political detainees, have been tortured to dying in Iranian jails since 2017.
A welder by career, Mangouri was the daddy of three and is alleged to have been previously investigated over his alleged hyperlinks to opposition teams. The precise nature and affiliation of these teams has not been specified, however Iran’s Kurdish areas have for many years been handled with a securitized, zero-tolerance strategy by the ruling Islamic Republic because of the anti-government activism by Kurdish actions and their sympathizers. Accused of pursuing separatist causes, most of these teams are at present based mostly in northern Iraq, with many members additionally exiled throughout the Western world the place they’ve additionally been topic to hunt-and-kill plots by Iran-linked agents.
Iranian authorities have in previous circumstances promised investigations into the deaths of detainees. However rights activists argue that these pledges stay unfulfilled as they’re solely meant to assuage public anger. In Mangouri’s case, even an official promise stays lacking and a speedy funeral is anticipated to be held below tight safety measures.
The dying of 31-year-old Mangouri additionally adopted a latest chain of significant circumstances of abuse, torture and deaths in Iranian prisons. Earlier this month, Hadi Atazadeh — convicted of alcohol possession — was reported to have been lashed to dying inside a jail within the northwestern metropolis of Ahar. Iran’s authorities denied the report, blaming the prisoner’s dying on a number of causes, together with deteriorating well being. The nation’s judiciary can be reeling from a path of CCTV videos leaked by a hacker group dropping the curtain on abuse towards detainees in Tehran’s infamous Evin jail.
