Mozaffar Sakanvand Lakran was arrested by security forces Showt District in Maku on 24 September 2012 and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in the city.

He was held in this security detention facility for about a month and subjected to physical and psychological torture to extract forced confessions.

Afterward, he was moved to Maku Central Prison.

Sakanvand’s court session took place in Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Khoy, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) through membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).

According to the issued ruling, the court, based on Articles 186 and 610 of the Islamic Penal Code, sentenced him to “banishment and exile” to Borazjan for 20 years, which was communicated to him on 25 October 2013 in Maku prison.

On 1 December 2014, the verdict was upheld by Branch 14 of the Supreme Court and Sakanvand was transferred to Borazjan Prison.

According to his family, the court verdicts from both the Islamic Revolutionary Court and the Supreme Court only mentioned “banishment and exile” for 20 years, with no reference to imprisonment.

Sakanvand was exiled from Maku Central Prison to Borazjan Prison in early 2015.

1. Article 279 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Moharebeh (enmity against God) is defined as drawing a weapon with the intention of killing, stealing from, or intimidating people in a way that causes insecurity in the environment. According to Article 282 of the Islamic Penal Code, if a person commits the crime of moharebeh, they will be sentenced to crucifixion, execution, amputation of the right hand and left foot, or exile, at the discretion of the judge.”

2. The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) was established in 2004 in the Qandil Mountains along the border of Iraqi Kurdistan with Iranian Kurdistan. This party follows the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and bases its activities on the paradigm of a “democratic and ecological society based on women’s freedom”.

According to the party’s charter, PJAK considers the establishment of democratic confederalism and a political form of democratic self-governance for organising people to build a “democratic nation” as one of its fundamental goals. PJAK also participated in the establishment of the East Kurdistan Democratic and Free Society (KODAR). The headquarters of this party is in the mountainous areas between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iranian Kurdistan.