10:55GMT—5:55AM/EST

Washington, 11 November (WashingtonTV)—A Kurdish activist was hanged on Wednesday morning in a prison in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj, a day after rights groups called for his death sentence to be revoked.

Ehsan Fattahian, 27, was arrested last year for his alleged role in an illegal opposition group. He was accused of “armed struggle against the regime”, and received a 10-year prison sentence.

After protesting against the sentence, an appeals court changed his sentence to death.

He had gone on a hunger strike from Sunday, in protest to his imminent execution.

According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters website, Fattahian was executed this morning.

Ali Akbar Garoussi, the chief justice in Kurdistan Province, confirmed the hanging, reports the Tabnak news website.

Garoussi said that Fattahian was found guilty of “armed action against national security”, and that he “admitted” to being a member of the outlawed Komalah Kurdish leftist opposition group.

Amnesty International yesterday called on Iran to halt the execution, and commute the death sentences against two other Kurdish men, who are also said to be at imminent risk of execution.

The latest hanging brings to at least 248 the number of people executed so far this year in Iran, according to an AFP count.

According to Amnesty International, Iran executed at least 346 people in 2008, second only to China, although its population is 18 times smaller.

Sources: Committee of Human Rights Reporters website, Tabnak news website, Amnesty International website, Agence France-Presse

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