At least 13 Kurdish civilians and activists, including Verisheh Moradi, Sardar Shah-Moradi, Ali Ghassemi, Pezhman Soltani, Kaveh Salehi, Rizgar Beygzadeh Baba-Miri, Javanmard Mam-Khosravi, Kamran Soltani, Mohammad Faraji, Rauf Sheikh-Maroufi, Hossein Khosravi, Soleyman Adhami, and Hiwa Nouri, are currently imprisoned in Iran on severe charges such as “armed insurrection” (baghi), “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz), and “enmity against God” (moharebeh), which carry the potential death penalty in Iran.
Most were arrested over the past two years in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, and Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising.
They are being held in prisons in Bukan, Sanandaj, Orumiyeh and Evin Prison in Tehran, and are at risk of receiving severe sentences, including the death penalty, following the issuance of indictments.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned through conversations with families and reliable sources that the first court session for Verisheh Moradi, Ali Ghassemi, Pezhman Soltani, Kaveh Salehi, Javanmard Mam-Khosravi and Rizgar Beygzadeh Baba-Miri took place in Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran and Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh.
Seven others – Sardar Shah-Moradi, Kamran Soltani, Mohammad Faraji, Rauf Sheikh-Maroufi, Hossein Khosravi, Soleyman Adhami and Hiwa Nouri – remain in limbo, being held in prisons in Bukan, Sanandaj and Orumiyeh despite being charged.
Verisheh Moradi
Moradi, a member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR) from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence on 1 August 2023 at the entrance to Sanandaj upon her return from Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, where she had been involved in political and organisational activities.
She spent the first 13 days of her detention in the detention centre of this security institution in Sanandaj, and afterwards was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran.
During this period, she was subjected to pressure and threats to make forced confessions, and on 26 December 2023, after five months of solitary confinement, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Moradi’s first court session, on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), was held on 16 June at Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
During this session, Judge Salavati did not allow Moradi or her lawyers to present a defence.
Her second hearing is scheduled for 4 August, but her lawyers have been denied access to the case file, ordered by Judge Salavati.
Sardar Shah-Moradi
Sardar Shah-Moradi, a medical equipment student at the Applied Science University of Sanandaj, was arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in November 2022 during the Woman, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province.
He was physically and psychologically tortured for several months in one of Sanandaj’s security detention centres to extract forced confessions, and was later transferred to the city’s central prison.
Shah-Moradi was reportedly charged with “enmity against God” (moharebeh) for his alleged “involvement in the killing of a law enforcement officer” on 17 November 2022, the 40th day of commemoration of those killed in anti-government protests.
However, according to investigations by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), there is no evidence linking this civilian to such a charge, and despite being subjected to severe torture in the custody of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, he has denied all allegations by security interrogators regarding his alleged “involvement in the killing of a law enforcement officer”.
Previously, on 2 December 2022, the IRGC’s Beytolmoghaddas garrison in Kurdistan Province announced in a statement that “four perpetrators involved in the martyrdom of martyr Hassan Yousefi, a defender of security in the province”, had been arrested.
However, the other detainees in the case were released after some time, while Shah-Moradi remains in limbo in Sanandaj Central Prison.
Ali Ghassemi, Pezhman Soltani, Kaveh Salehi, Reza Karimi, and Javanmard Mam-Khosravi
These five civilians from Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, along with several other civilians, were arrested by security forces in April 2023 for their participation in the Woman, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Bukan and Baneh and were taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh.
These individuals were subjected to physical and psychological torture by Ministry of Intelligence interrogators for several months in order to extract forced confessions, and were then transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
During their detention, they were denied the right to meet with their families and access to a lawyer.
The indictment against four of them, Ghasemi, Soltani, Salehi and Karimi, charges them with “armed insurrection” (baghi), “enmity against God” (moharebeh), “assembly and collusion”, “collaboration with hostile governments”, “smuggling of Starlink equipment”, and other offences.
Mam-Khosravi was also charged with “enmity against God” (moharebeh), “assembly and collusion”, “collaboration with hostile governments”, “smuggling of Starlink equipment”, and other charges.
In another case, Ghassemi, Soltani and Salehi were charged with “premeditated murder” of an IRGC member.
The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published a report on 14 July 2024 in which it released the forced confessions of four of these individuals.
Kamran Soltani, Mohammad Faraji, and Rauf Sheikh-Maroufi
Rauf Sheikh-Maroufi was arrested on 26 December 2022 by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence during the Woman, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Bukan.
He was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture for two days in a security detention centre in Bukan before being transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province.
After 170 days in detention, Sheikh-Maroufi was transferred to Bukan Prison on 10 June 2023.
Faraji and Soltani were arrested by security agents during the Woman, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Bukan on 22 and 27 February 2023, respectively, and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre, where they were subjected to three and a half months of physical and psychological torture to extract forced confessions before being transferred to Bukan Prison on 10 June 2023.
Sheikh-Maroufi was charged with “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz) in a case that was referred to the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, after the indictment was issued.
A separate case against Sheikh-Maroufi is pending before the first branch of the Bukan Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Gol-Hosseini, although the specific charges remain unknown.
Soltani and Faraji have been charged with “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in a joint case, which was also referred to the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad after the indictment was issued.
Hossein Khosravi, Soleyman Adhami, and Hiwa Nouri
Hossein Khosravi and Soleyman Adhami, imams of mosques in villages near Baneh and Bukan, along with Hiwa Nouri, were arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence forces in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, on 29 and 30 January 2024 and transferred to the Ministry’s detention centre in Orumiyeh.
During their over three-month detention in the security facility, the three activists were tortured by interrogators to extract forced confessions and were then transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
In recent months, the activists have been formally charged with “armed insurrection” (baghi), “membership of the terrorist group Ansar al-Sunna” and “propaganda against the state”, and the case has been referred to the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh for trial.
Prisoners on death row
Five Kurdish political prisoners, Pakhshan Azizi, Nayeb Askari, Hatem Ozdemir, Yousef Ahmadi and Reza Rasaei, are currently on death row in the central prisons of Orumiyeh, Sanandaj and Kermanshah.
The death sentences of Ahmadi and Rasaei have been upheld by the Supreme Court and they face imminent execution.
