Report: Iran executes 3 Kurdish prisoners

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian media is reporting that authorities have hanged three Kurdish prisoners after years in prison.

The Saturday report by the semi-official ISNA news agency quotes Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, the lawyer representing Ramin Hossein Panahi, as saying reliable sources have informed him that his client has been hanged.

The semi-official Fars news agency said authorities hanged three “counterrevolutionaries,” without elaborating.

Amjad Hossein Panahi, Ramin’s brother, also tweeted that his brother was among three people hanged in a prison near Tehran. He said the other two were cousins Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi, who were charged with murder in 2009.

Rights groups routinely call on Iran to abolish its use of the death penalty.