Arrest
On 8 October 2019, security forces arrested Nayeb Hajizadeh (Masoud Hajizadeh) along with four other civilians, Kamran Ghassemi, Keyvan Rashozadeh, and Omid Saeidi, and took them to the Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Orumiyeh. He was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison after a month of interrogation in the detention centre.
During his detention in Orumiyeh Central Prison, he was repeatedly subjected to physical and psychological torture by prison officials and went on hunger strike at least twice.
Judicial Process
Hajizadeh and his co-defendants were tried in December 2020 at Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, presided over by Judge Ali Sheikhlou, without the right to a lawyer.
He was sentenced to 10 years and one day of imprisonment on charges of “acting against national security” through membership in the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
Current Status
Hajizadeh is currently imprisoned in Orumiyeh Central Prison.
Additional Information
– In August 2021, following a fight between several political prisoners and general crime prisoners, and a complaint by the head of Orumiyeh Central Prison, Hajizadeh and two other Kurdish political prisoners, Keyhan Mokarram and Nayeb Askari, were sentenced to three months of imprisonment and 50 lashes on charges of “disturbing prison order.” The case was filed after a Kurdish political prisoner was beaten by general crime prisoners.
– On 11 December 2021, Hajizadeh went on a hunger strike to protest being denied access to medical services and requested conditional release or transfer to a hospital.
– In early 2022, he was transferred to a hospital outside the prison due to an internal abdominal tear, but underwent incorrect surgery. After returning to prison, despite his deteriorating health, prison officials prevented further treatment and access to medical services.
– On 3 March 2024, he was granted medical furlough on a bail of 30 billion rials – nearly 60,000 USD.
– On 1 June 2023, the political prisoner was summoned to the prison head’s office after a group of prisoners of violent crimes in the Dormitory 1-2 reported him to prison officials, claiming he had “insulted the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. He was severely beaten by Danyali, the head of the ward; Sepehrnia, the prison’s deputy director; Azarnia, the head of security; and Azariyoun, the prison inspector, before being sent to solitary confinement.
– On 6 June 2023, he went on a hunger strike to protest his continued solitary confinement and new charges filed by prison officials against him.
Notes:
1. Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan: The Komala of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan, known as Komala, a Marxist-Leninist organisation with Maoist inclinations, after nearly a decade of clandestine activities, publicly declared its establishment on 15 February 1979, simultaneously with the victory of the 1979 revolution.
In 1984, Komala and several other leftist Iranian groups founded the Communist Party of Iran (CPI), and Komala was renamed to Komala Kurdistan’s Organisation of the Communist Party of Iran.
In 2000, part of the party’s leadership and members, under a project entitled “Reviving Komala,” split from the CPI and reverted to their original name before the formation of the CPI; the Komala of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan or Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan believes in social democracy and considers “establishing a federal government” the appropriate solution for the Kurdish issue in Iran. The central headquarters of this party is in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
