Arrest
Kamran Ghassemi was arrested by security forces on 8 October 2019 along with three other civilians Kurdish civilians and taken to the Al-Mahdi detention facility of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Orumiyeh.
After a month of interrogation, he was transferred to the youth section of Orumiyeh Central Prison.
Judicial Process
In December 2020, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced Ghassemi to 10 years and one day in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through membership of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
After his “submission to the verdict”, his sentence was reduced to seven years and six months.
Current Status
Ghassemi is currently serving his sentence in Orumiyeh Central Prison. Despite having served more than half of his sentence, he has been denied conditional release due to the opposition of prison officials and the Ministry of Intelligence office in Orumiyeh.
Additional Information
– On 22 February 2020, he went on a hunger strike with six other Kurdish political prisoners in protest against their detention in the youth ward and demanded a separate room for political prisoners.
– In April 2020, he again went on a hunger strike with several other political prisoners in protest against his continued detention in the youth ward. After a week of hunger strike, he and the other strikers were transferred to solitary confinement by prison authorities’ orders.
– In November 2020, he joined two other Kurdish political prisoners, Keyvan Rashouzadeh and Omid Saeidi, in a dry hunger strike to protest their uncertain status, pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence’s special office, and the non-compliance with the principle of segregation of crimes in the youth ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison.
– On 12 December 2021, he participated in a week-long hunger strike with 46 political prisoners to protest their transfer to a new ward in Orumiyeh Central Prison.
– On 26 June 2021, during a visit, his family was insulted and mistreated by prison officers, prompting this political prisoner’s objections. In front of his family, prison officers and guards beat him.
– On 11 January 2022, by order of the prison warden and the head of the Ministry of Intelligence’s special office in the prison, the prison guards raided the ward for political and religious prisoners, beat and transferred them to the new “secure” ward. In protest against this transfer, Ghassemi and several other political prisoners were moved to solitary confinement.
– On 5 March 2024, he went on a nine-day hunger strike to protest the refusal of prison officials and the Ministry of Intelligence to grant him leave and conditional release.
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.
2. In cases where an individual accepts the verdict issued by the lower court and waives their right to appeal, they will be subject to the law of “submission to the verdict” and will receive a reduction in their sentence.
