Strike brings Kurdish province to a standstill

Iran Focus: Mahabad, Iran, 13 May – Public outrage has spread throughout towns in Iran’s Kurdistan Province following the hanging of five Kurdish prisoners of conscience over the weekend, an Iran Focus correspondent in the area reports.

Iran Focus

Mahabad, Iran, 13 May – Public outrage has spread throughout towns in Iran’s Kurdistan Province following the hanging of five Kurdish prisoners of conscience over the weekend, an Iran Focus correspondent in the area reports.

Many shops remain closed in the provincial capital Sanandaj and elsewhere in Bukan, Saqqez, Kamyaran, Marivan and Mahabad. The strike was called on Monday after news of the executions spread.

Shirin Alam-Houli, Ali Heydarian, Mehdi Islamian, Farzad Kamangar, and Farhad Vakili were hanged in Evin Prison in Tehran on Sunday after being charged with acting against state security.

Protests erupted Wednesday in the town of Dahgolan. People chanted anti-government slogans and clashed with the security forces, who opened fire to disperse the crowd.

In Bukan, detachments of the State Security Force, Intelligence Ministry agents and plainclothes officers were out in force in and around the city’s main square.

In Kamyaran, where Farzad Kamangar used to teach young children for 12 years, most shops were closed and high school students did not attend classes.

Most stores and major shopping centres and the bazaar in Sanandaj remain closed.