The Iranian regime has executed another Kurdish political prisoner. Haydar Qorbani, who was arrested in 2016, was executed by regime forces at 4 am on Sunday 19 December, Roj News reports.

Haydar Qorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner from Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan), was sentenced to death on charges of “membership of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan – PDKI and opposition to the regime.” Qorbani had been imprisoned since 2016 and reportedly tortured in various prisons in Iran.

Hengaw Organisation of Human Rights announced his death on its official Twitter account with the message: “Kurdish political prisoner Haydar Qorbani has been secretly executed in the central prison of Sine (Sanandaj) without being allowed to hold the last meeting with his family.”

The family were informed that Haydar Qorbani was being transferred to Tehran, and that the family could visit him immediately before his departure. But when the family arrived in Sanandaj, Qorbani had already been executed.

His execution came after repeated calls by international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, describing his sentence as unjust.

Qorbani was arrested on 12 October 2016 by about 10 intelligence agents who raided his home. For three months, the family were denied any information about his fate and whereabouts and did not even know whether he was dead or alive.

In the detention centre in Sanandaj, Qorbani was held in prolonged solitary confinement and exposed to torture and other forms of ill-treatment for several months.