Hiwa Nouri was beaten and arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence on 29 January 2024, along with two other Kurdish Sunni clerics, Hossein Khosravi and Soleyman Adhami, in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, and taken to the Ministry’s detention facility in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province.

He was detained for over three months without being allowed to meet his family or have access to a lawyer.

During this time, Nouri was subjected to torture to extract forced confessions and was later transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.

In a joint case with Khosravi and Adhami, Nouri was charged with “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership of the Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah and “propaganda against the state”.

The case has been sent to Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh for trial.

Nouri is currently being held in Orumiyeh Central Prison.

1. Articles 287 of the Islamic Penal Code: “A group that engages in armed insurrection against the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is considered rebellious, and if they use weapons, the members shall be sentenced to the death penalty.”

2. Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah is an Islamist group in Iraq that also has influence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This group, which adheres to a “Salafi Jihadi” ideology, split from Ansar al-Islam and declared its formation in 2003. The group has stated that its aim is to fight the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and to establish an Islamic state based on Sharia law.

3. Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Anyone who engages in propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in favour of groups and organisations opposing the state, in any manner, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months to one year.”