The Islamic Republic has executed Heydar Qorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner Sunday after appeals by the public and rights organizations failed to save his life.

According to Kurdisatn province justice department, Qorbani was executed at dawn on December 19, in Sanandaj prison after years of contention between human rights activists and Iran’s hardline Judiciary.

Qorbani had been arrested back in October 2016 after several members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed close to his hometown, the small city of Kamyaran.

Among the charges laid against him were the murder of three IRGC members and "taking up arms against the state" through membership in the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), an armed opposition group. During his trial, he had rejected any connection with any political party, carrying arms, and involvement in the killings.

The government has intensified arrests and disappearances of Kurdish citizens and activists in recent months.

In 2018, the Iranian state-run Press TV aired by Qorbani for being an accessory to murder, and late in 2019, he was given the death sentence as well as a total of 90 years in jail plus 200 lashes.

However, according to his lawyer and Amnesty International his tainted confessions were obtained under torture, and he was not given a fair trial.