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Execution of political prisoners meant to terrorize those who would march in June.

Early
Sunday, May 9, five political prisoners were executed at Evin, Tehran's
notorious prison. At least four of the victims -- Farzad Kamangar, Ali
Haydarian, Farhad Vakili, and Shirin Alam-Houli -- were ethnic Kurds.
They were allegedly members of the outlawed Party of Free Life of
Kurdistan, known by the acronym PJAK. The group, an offshoot of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been waging an armed struggle
against the Turkish government for an independent state, or at least a
Kurdish-run autonomous region, in southern Turkey. A statement released
by the Tehran prosecutor's office after the executions claimed that the
four had confessed to being members of PJAK and admitted involvement in
a series of bomb plots in Tehran and northwestern Iran.

The fifth victim, Mehdi Eslamian, was allegedly a member of an
Iranian pro-monarchy group, Anjoman Padeshahi (Kingdom Association).
Very little is known about the group, and it is not clear if it is
active in Iran at all. There is an organization with that name outside
the country. The prosecutor accused Eslamian of involvement in the 2008
bombing of a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz. Two other alleged
members of the group, Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad-Reza Ali Zamani,
were executed earlier this year. From... >>>