Iran: Wife of Kurdish journalist Hiwa Botimar on death-row speaks

Iran: Wife of Kurdish journalist Hiwa Botimar on death-row speaks: "Iran: Wife of Kurdish journalist Hiwa Botimar on death-row speaks: "Free men cannot accept that in the 21st Century intellectuals and journalists are hanged for speaking about freedom or asking for democracy", she said. 26.7.2007




July 26, 2007

Mariwan, Iranian Kurdistan, -- The wife of Hiwa Boutimarthe, a dissident Kurdish journalist sentenced to death in Iran, has pleaded for her husband's life saying the court's ruling was 'an error'.

Hiro, 19, spoke to AKI by phone from Mariwan, a city in Iran's Kurdistan region.

'I want to believe that the judge has made an error since in the death sentence Hiwa is described as being single when in fact we got married three years ago', Hiro said.

Hiro, a university mathematics student, described the sentence as 'against every humane principle' and as having 'trampled on the penal code of the Islamic Republic'.
Kurdish journalists Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death by the Iranian Islamic regime

She said she last saw her husband when she visited him in a Mariwan prison some 10 days ago. At that stage the death sentence had not yet been delivered.

Hiro, said that like her husband, she was proud of her Kurdish heritage.

'Kurdistan has for centuries suffered central government injustice and repression. Every family here has at least one member who was shot for no reason other than being proud of belonging to the"