ABC blog

Eghbal Moradi, a Kurdish human rights activist who has attempted to save his son and nephew from the death penalty for what he describes as a wrongful conviction based on forced confessions, has been found dead of gunshot wounds in Iraqi Kurdestan.

The mayor of Penjwin, a Kurdish majority community near the border with Iran, announced that Moradi’s body was recovered the night of Tuesday, July 17 and bore three bullet wounds, according to Radio Zamaneh.

ANF Persian reports that Moradi was subject to an assassination attempt in 2008/2009. Severely wounded, he was saved by timely medical attention.

Moradi’s son and nephew, Zaniar and Loghman Moradi, were arrested in 2009. The two were tried for the killing of the son of a religious official in the city of Marivan and given death sentences. Zaniar Moradi has stated that interrogators extracted confessions from him and his cousin using intense physical and psychological torture.

Eghbal Moradi has affirmed the allegations of forced confessions, torture, and other failures of due process in the cases of his son and nephew, and in a 2012 video called for the international human rights community to help put an end to the execution of all political prisoners in Iran:

Later, following the 2013 visit of a High Judicial Council member with his imprisoned family members, Moradi called for an end to capital punishment in Iran’s judiciary:

“The authorities have for the past 32 years heard the cries of the prisoners’ mothers, fathers and loved ones, yet the situation has worsened. Every time those in charge come under pressure, the prisoners pay the price. I have no expectation from the authorities; if they have any humanity they must hear our cries and know that this is not just my voice. This is the voice of all the people of this nation who are saying ‘enough is enough, stop this injustice, enough killing, enough executions.”

The mayor of Penjwin further stated that investigations into Moradi’s murder have begun.