Four Kurdish civilians from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, who were arrested during last year’s anti-government protests, have been charged with “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and face the death penalty.
These individuals, Keyvan Zandi, Aram Azad, Sardar Shah-Moradi, and Houshang Chahar-Gorgeh, are currently being held in temporary detention in Sanandaj Central Prison.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the four civilians were arrested separately by security forces during the protests in late November 2022 and subsequently subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during their months-long detention at a security detention centre in Sanandaj.
They were reportedly accused of “involvement in the murder of a police officer” on 17 November.
However, KHRN’s investigations have revealed that there is no evidence or documentation to support the allegations against these individuals.
Despite being subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in the custody of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), they have denied the security interrogators’ allegations that they were involved in the murder of a police officer.
Previously, on 2 December 2022, the IRGC’s Sepah-e Beytolmoghaddas garrisons in Kurdistan had announced the arrest of “four people involved in the martyrdom of martyr Hassan Yousefi, one of the martyrs defending security in the province.”
After being held for months in the Shahramfar Detention Centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC, the four civilians were transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison.
Keyvan Zandi and Aram Azad were temporarily released from Sanandaj Central Prison on bail of 30 billion rials – nearly 60,000 USD. However, they were re-arrested and returned to Sanandaj Central Prison a few days later under pressure from the IRGC’s intelligence agency.
The cases of these four civilians are currently being separately reviewed in Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, presided over by Judge Saeidi.
On 17 November 2022, thousands of civilians gathered in Behesht-e Mohammadi Park in Sanandaj to commemorate the 40th day since the killing of the protesters by government forces in Sanandaj, and then marched towards the city.
The protests were met with violent repression, resulting in the deaths of civilians Aram Habibi and Shahou Bahmani.
Omid Hassani, who was detained along with dozens of other civilians that day, died as a result of torture in the Sanandaj district police detention centre.
Aryan Khoshgavar, another civilian who was severely injured by baton and knife blows from special forces, died after four months in Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj.
On the same day, state media reported the killing of Colonel Hassan Yousefi, a police officer, near Behesht-e Mohammadi Park in Sanandaj.
