Ehsan Fatahian (; ; b. 1982 in

Kermanshah Kermanshah is a city in the Central District (Kermanshah County), Central District of Kermanshah province, Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is from Tehran in the western pa ...

- d. November 11, 2009 in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (; ) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. With a population of 414,069, it is the second largest Kurdish city a ...

), was a Kurdish activist, who was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, in

Central Prison, after being sentenced to death by the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, for allegedly being a member of the armed wing of Komalah. He was 28 years old.

Life

Fatahian was born in the city of

. He was arrested on July 20, 2008, in the Kurdish city of Kamyiaran by Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Accused of helping the Kurdish opposition group Komeleh and participating in "propaganda activities against the regime," he was originally sentenced to ten years in prison, but his sentence was later changed to death by hanging. Human rights organizations denounced Fatahian's execution. Omid Memarian, a

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

consultant, said: “The execution today is very alarming. We are faced with a new wave of violence by the government which is only comparable to the early days after the revolution.”

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations had called for a halt on Fatahian's execution. More than 10,000 people signed an online petition in an effort to stop the execution. Prisoners at Sanandaj Prison, including Habibollah Latifi, Adnan Hassanpour, Anward Hossein Panahi, Arsalan Evliyayi, Jabril Khoroyi, Ronak Safazadeh and Fatemeh Goftari participated in a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

to support Fatahian. Prisoners in Evin and Rajaishahr prisons, including Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydariyan and Farhad Vakili, also participated in this hunger strike. Protests following Fatahnian's execution in Azadi Square in Sanandaj resulted in many protesters being wounded and arrested. Amer Goli, a student, and Ako Kurdnasab, a journalist, were arrested following these protests.

References

External links

* https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/102/2009/en/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20100115122720/http://www.mideastyouth.com/2009/11/09/iran-set-to-execute-kurdish-political-prisoner-ehsan-fattahian-on-november-11/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fatahian, Ehsan 1982 births 2009 deaths Iranian Kurdish people People from Kermanshah 21st-century executions by Iran Executed Iranian people People executed by Iran by hanging Iranian activists Kurdish activists Iranian torture victims Executed Iranian people by the Islamic Republic of Iran