Kurdish prisoner Qassem Abasteh was executed on Sunday in Qezel Hesar jail in Karaj after 14 years of imprisonment, wrote the Kurdish Human Rights Network in a statement.

Qassem Abasteh, 44, father of 2 children and resident of Mahabad, was arrested by security forces on 16 December 2008 with 6 other Kurdish civilians from the towns of Saqqez and Mahabad, namely Daoud Abdullahi, Kamran Sheikha, Farhad. Salimi, Khosrow Basharat, Anwar Khazri and Ayub Karimi and were transferred to the Urmia Intelligence Department detention center.

Abasteh and the others were accused of "propaganda against the regime".

After several trials, Abasteh was sentenced to death in June 2017. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence. The family of the political prisoner was informed on Sunday of his execution by a telephone call from prison authorities and went to the jail to collect his body.

According to KHRN’s findings, Iran executed at least nine prisoners on drug-related charges in the prisons of Hamadan, Rasht, Khorramabad, Karaj and Khoy during the month of October.

These are the executions the KHRN has been informed of by its sources. However, the number of those executed is likely to be higher.