ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurds from Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) gathered in front of the UN compound in Erbil on Wednesday, in a bid to draw international attention to the execution of three Kurdish men in Iran and missile strikes on Kurdish party headquarters in Koya.

Ramin Hossein Panahi and Loghman and Zanyar Moradi were executed in Iran on Saturday.

International rights groups and observers had condemned the death sentences imposed on the three men, saying the men were tortured in prison and did not receive fair trials.

Amnesty International condemned their executions as an “outrage.”

“We are horrified by the news that the Iranian authorities have executed these men, despite widespread condemnation of their death sentences and calls from UN human rights experts and other bodies to halt their executions,” said Philip Luther, researcher and advocacy director for the rights group’s Middle East and North Africa section.

He called on Iran impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and ultimately abolish it entirely.

On the same day that Iran executed the three men, the country’s military fired seven surface-to-surface missiles at the headquarters of Iranian-Kurdish parties located in Koya, Kurdistan Region.

Seventeen people were killed, including several party leaders, and 46 were injured in the attack.

US Vice President Mike Pence, condemned the strike, in a phone call with KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.

The protest in front of the UN was organized by the Cooperation Centre of five Iranian Kurdish parties.

While the small crowd gathered in Erbil, Kurdish businesses in cities in Iran staged a general strike in protest.

Rudaw