IRAN: Seven years on death row

A report on Zaniar and Loqman Moradi

NCRI – Two young Iranian Kurds that have been condemned to death are lingering in prison after seven years.

Zaniar and Loqman Moradi are charged with killing the son of a senior mullah in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, a charge they deny.

They are spending their seventh year in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, and their families say that they are in poor physical condition. 

During these seven years, Zaniar has never been able to meet his family and Loqman has just seen his family two or three times from behind a window.

“Their file has turned complicated by the Ministry of Intelligence. It does not allow criminal courts to try them, nor does it allow clarification of their condition,” says Zaniar’s father who is Loqman’s uncle.

“Zaniar has undergone surgery five times because of the tortures he has suffered by his interrogators and Ministry of Intelligence agents. He has been operated on the spine, back, testis and knee,” he added.

Zaniar’s father said that his family has moved out of Iran and thus Zaniar has not been able to have visits from them, but the regime has also barred any visits by his grandparents. “Recently, when Loqman was sent to court, he refused to put on a prisoner’s outfit. He was beaten with batons, boots and other things for that, resulting in injury to two of his vertebras,” he added.