We, the Victims’ Families for Transitional Justice, condemn in the strongest possible terms the issuance of death sentences against five Kurdish political prisoners — Soran Ghasemi, Kaveh Salehi, Pezhman Soltani (each sentenced to death three times), Rezgar Bigzadeh Babamiri (twice), and Tayfour Salimi Babamiri (once). These sentences, issued without a transparent judicial process and based on vague, unsubstantiated charges, are a stark reflection of systemic injustice and the Islamic Republic’s ongoing policy of physically eliminating political dissent.

Once again, the name of Judge Reza Najafzadeh surfaces in connection with executions and repression. He has previously issued death sentences for dozens of protesters, and his name is now inseparably linked to the bloodshed of Iran’s youth.

At the same time, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has shamelessly and explicitly called for the repetition of the mass executions of the 1980s. Its reference to the 1988 prison massacres—among the most heinous state crimes in modern Iranian history—constitutes not only a direct threat to today’s political prisoners but also a blatant incitement to crimes against humanity.

These developments are unfolding in the context of a renewed wave of repression, widespread arrests, disappearances, and a climate of fear. Peaceful protests, whistleblowing, or even basic civil activism are now met with imprisonment, torture, or execution.

We stand in full solidarity with the families of those sentenced to death, and we urgently call on international institutions, human rights organizations, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, and all people of conscience to:

Take immediate and effective action to halt these executions;

Condemn the calls to repeat the 1980s massacres as incitement to genocide;

Demand that the Iranian regime end its systematic campaign of repression and gross human rights violations.

Silence in the face of these atrocities is a betrayal of both justice and humanity.

Victims’ Families for Transitional Justice

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