Zanyar Moradi

He is the son of Eghbal Moradi, a member of the Komala Group in Iraq's Kurdistan. The case of Zanyar and Loghman Moradi is one of the most notorious cases of political and ideological prisoners in Iran. They were sentenced to death for the charges of "Moharebeh" and "Murder"

<coverage-outsourcing id='64'> He was arrested alongside Zanyar Moradi, Bakhtiar Memari, and Hajir Ebrahimi by Marivan Intelligence Ministry forces and transferred to the Sanandaj Intelligence Ministry's Media lock-up while he was still under 18 . Him and Loghman Moradi (who shared a case with him) were kept in Sanandaj Intelligence Ministry Office cells for nine months while they were interrogated under severe physical and mental duress </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1060'> He was tried in Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati and charged with "Enmity against God" and "Committing corruption on earth" based on verse 33 of the Maeda Surah and clauses 183,186,189,190 and 191 of the Islamic Penal Code sentenced to execution in the public eye. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1057'> He was later transferred to Sanandaj's Central Prison , where he was held for six months before being transferred to the Sanandaj Intelligence Ministry's Media lock-up. He was initially charged with spying for Britain but was interrogated on charges of assassination </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1059'> He and Loghman Moradi confessed to the assassination of the son of Marivan's Imam on Press TV's Iran Today program . According to a source close to his family this confession was made under extreme physical and mental duress. Moradi was later transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. This program was broadcast in late 2010 </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1062'> He was deprived of having visitation and phone rights until further notice </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1063'> He was summoned alongside Loghman Moradi and interrogated by a representative of the Tehran Judiciary </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1061'> Following Moradi's appeal to his sentence, he was tried by Branch 14 of the Supreme Court on charges of "Assembly and collusion against national security through enmity with God, Assassination and illegal importation of a weapon from Iraq" and sentenced to execution in the location of his crime (Marivan). This sentence was handed to the Rajaee Shahr Prison's Sentence Enforcement Unit without being relayed to the defendant. This sentence was approved by the court in less than six months and relayed to Evin Prison's Sentence Enforcement Unit and Rajaee Shahr Prison within the next day. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='69'> He was transferred to hospital due to severe pain in his lower back, caused by the beatings he endured during his interrogation </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='68'> He was deprived of visitation rights by judicial officials </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='12086'> Loghman and Zanyar Moradi were denied visitation from their arrest in 2009 till 2013 </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='8794'> According to Maf News, Zanyar and Loghman's attorney, Mr. Saleh Nikbakht, asked the court to allow three witnesses to testify in court to prove the innocence of his clients. But the judge postponed the session to another time due to the incompletion of the case </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='1066'> He was tried alongside Loghman Moradi in Branch 74 of Tehran Province Criminal Court presided by Judge Abdollahi on behalf of five judges but the trial session was not held due to insufficient evidence and the court date was rescheduled to an unknown date. He was charged with having taken part in the assassination of the son of Marivan's Imam and summoned to Branch 74 of Criminal Court </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='7116'> Iran Human Rights Organization published a report on Loghman and Zanyar Moradi. The report states that after seven years in detainment, they are still awaiting a verdict from the criminal court. Informed sources have told the organization that Intelligence ministry is not allowing the case to be completed and the criminal court to issue the acquittal verdict. According to the report, if they are acquitted, due to the changes made in the Moharebeh laws, their death sentence will probably be overturned </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='7958'> International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran published a report stating that if the public court exonerates them from the charge of Murdering the son of the Friday prayer Imam, it could open a path to overturn the death sentence for Moharebeh, since murder has been cited as grounds for Moharebeh charge </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='8793'> Maf News reported that Zanyar and Loghman's case has been sent to Marivan for completion three times, but was returned each time without any changes. According to the report, security organizations have asked these two prisoners not to communicate with other prisoners </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='10317'> Zanyar and Loghman Moradi wrote a letter to the special rapporteur on Human Rights, Ms. Asma Jahangir, and described their case and hardship and asked her to seek justice for them. This letter is documented in the Supporting Evidence section of this page </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='11898'> His family was informed that their son has been denied visitation. An informed source told Kurdistan Human Rights Network: > on ِDecember 26th, the families of these two political prisoners in Marivan went to Tehran Courthouse and requested to visit their children, but Judge Khoda Moradi, the representative for the attorney general told them that Zanyar and Loghman Moradi are denied visitation until further notice, but he did not explain the reason for this decision. </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='12043'> Zanyar and 19 other prisoners of Rajayi Shahr prison wrote a letter to Asma Jahangir and expressed their concern for Saeed Shirzad's health. The letter is documented in the Supporting Evidence section of Saeed Shirzad's page </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='12088'> Zanyar Moradi told the International Campaign for Human Rights that since a month ago, the Attorney General of Tehran, Mr. Haji Moradi, has once again denied visitations for him and Loghman Moradi </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='12359'> Zanyar Moradi's father told International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that he hopes with the help of the new attorney of his son and Loghman Moradi, their death penalty would be overturned. He also emphasized that "My son was arrested because of my political activities. Twenty days after the failed assassination attempt on my life by the Intelligence agents in Iraqi Kurdistan, My son was arrested." While pointing out the charges against Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, he added: > The intelligence ministry at first accused them of war against the Islamic regime, but since executing them on Moharebeh would have caused a lot of uproar and Zanyar and Loghman were not members of Komalah to begin with, after a while they accused them of murder of the son of Mostafa Shirzadi, Marivan's Friday prayer Imam, and sentenced them to death for murder </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='13146'> The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reports, Saeed Shirzad and Zanyar Moradi have written a letter expressing their sympathy for the family of the murdered, or killed by accident, goods carriers and requested the prosecution of those responsible and implicated in the “continuation of these killings, mass murders, and politics that have ruled Kurdish society for decades” </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='15209'> They published a letter, titled, “We haven’t given up hope for justice”. In this letter, they, once more, claimed their innocence and expressed hope that in the near future a trail will take place so that the truths of the case come to light. The letter which was published by HRANA can be found in the evidence section of this page </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='18210'> According to Iran Prison Atlas, after the violent transfer of political prisoners from hall 12 ward 4 of Rajaee Shahr to hall 10 and the prisoners’ collective hunger strike, prison authorities threatened, with execution, Loghman Moradi, Zanyar Moradi and Houshang Rezaei, if they continued their hunger strike </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='19448'> After the collective transfer of the political and ideological/religious prisoners of Rajaei Shahr prison to a new ward, a number of them began a hunger strike.This widespread hunger strike led to the prison guards and staff’s mistreatment of prisoners’ families, threatening of prisoners, putting prisoners in solitary confinement and withholding medical treatment and medicines. The collective protest was met with the media reaction of the judiciary, and the support of human rights organizations and some of the civil and political activists. Because some of the prisoner terminated their strike sooner and some of them were, also, transferred to solitary cells, the list of names changed during the period of the hunger strike, but in general, the names of prisoners who partook in the hunger strike, whose names have been confirmed by verified lists, are as follows: Majid Asadi, Jafar Eghdami, Saeed Shirzad, Saeed Masouri, Shahin Zoghitabar, Reza Akbari Monfared, Abolghasem Fouladvand, Hasan Sadeghi, Reza Shahabi, Mohammad Nazari, Payam Shakiba, Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi, Mohammal Ali Mansouri, Ebrahim Firouzi, Amir Ghaziani, Vahid Sayad Nasiri, Hamid Babaei, Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, Houshang Rezaei and Saeed Pourheydar. Among them Saeed Shirzad, Reza Shahabi, and Mohammad Nazari’s hunger strike lasted longer than 50 days.The last two, had continued their hunger strike in protest to the situation of their own cases </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='19604'> According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Saeed Shirzad and Zanyar Moradi, wrote a letter from Rajaei Shahr in Karaj prison, asking for the support and solidarity of political and civil activists of Kurdistan for Mohammad Nazari </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='20410'> In a letter to his little sister, "Dideh," he wrote of his encounter with the issue of execution, and asked her that if another meeting didn’t happen, she would not sow revenge and grudge in her heart, because "our revenge will be the smile of our children." "I decided to create another image of the rope in my mind, of which I would not be afraid when I was about to get hung," he writes. The image of the gallows that turned in my head into a Setar and I visualized the rope as the strings of this Setar. That's how I decided to make my own Setar so that every time I think of execution, I feel calm, rather than worrying about it by playing my Setar and listening to its tunes. I forgot the fear of the gallow noose’s trembling by means of my fingers’ movements on its strings." The full text of this letter, published by HRANA, is recorded in the Evidence section of this page </coverage-outsourcing>
<coverage-outsourcing id='24043'> He was executed </coverage-outsourcing>