Urgent Action Update: Four Ahwazi Arab Men Secretly Executed (Iran: UA 69.20)

Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi, Jasem Heidary and Naser Khafajian, from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, were executed in secret in Sepidar prison on February 28, 2021. The Iranian authorities are concealing the full truth about their fate as well as the location of their graves and are refusing to return their bodies to their families, thereby committing the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance. Ahwazi Arab prisoners of conscience Mohammad Ali Amouri, Jaber Alboshokeh and Mokhtar Alboshokeh continue to be denied adequate health care.

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1. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to the government official listed below. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
2. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 69.20. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.                                                                

CONTACT INFORMATION         SAMPLE LETTER Dear Mr Raisi, On February 28, 2021, Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi, Jasem Heidary and Naser Khafajian, from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, were executed in secret without prior notice to them or their families. The Iranian authorities have not provided death certificates or returned their bodies to their families. Men in plainclothes, who did not identify themselves but believed to be agents from the ministry of intelligence, told the families that the men would be buried in “la’nat abad” (“damned land”) without specifying a location. By concealing the full truth about the men’s executions, hiding their bodies, and failing to return them to their families, the authorities are committing the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance. Ahwazi Arab prisoners of conscience Mohammad Ali Amouri, Jaber Alboshokeh and Mokhtar Alboshokeh remain unjustly imprisoned in Sheiban prison, Kuzestan province, where they are serving a life sentence solely because of their peaceful work with a now-disbanded cultural rights group called Al-Hiwar (“Dialogue” in Arabic). Jaber Alboshokeh suffers from a dental infection and Mokhtar Alboshokeh from a jawbone infection, but the authorities have been denying them access to a dentist for months. On February 28, Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi and Jasem Heidary were taken from solitary confinement in Sheiban prison to Sepidar prison, and Naser Khafajian, who had been forcibly disappeared since April 2020, was transferred to Sepidar prison from Dezful prison, Khuzestan province. The men had brief family visits that day, though none were told this was to be a last visit before their executions were to be carried out. Following this visit, their relatives were taken to separate rooms at the prison. Shortly after, Ali Khasraji’s relative was taken to an area with four black bags; a prison guard opened one bag to reveal Ali Khasraji’s body. According to an informed source, Jasem Heidary’s body was also shown to his relative. On March 1, 2021, state media reported the executions of Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi and Naser Khafajian. I ask you to immediately reveal the full truth about the secret executions of Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi, Jasem Heidary and Naser Khafajian and the location of their remains and return their bodies to their families. I further urge you to release Mohammad Ali Amouri, Jaber Alboshokeh and Mokhtar Alboshokeh immediately and unconditionally. Pending their release, they must be provided with adequate health care, including transfer to outside facilities for treatment unavailable in prison. Sincerely, [YOUR NAME] ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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