Kurdish political prisoner Hossein Kamangar, who was facing trial on charges of “instigating armed uprising against government and the state” through membership of Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj – headed by Judge Saeedi – has issued the sentence after Kamangar was held for two years in temporary detention for membership in the PJAK.
A source familiar with the case of the political prisoner confirmed the news to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). “Hossein Kamangar’s family were officially notified of the 15-year prison sentence after they went to the office of Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court.”
According to this source, the prisoner’s lawyers Saleh Nikbakht and Amir Ahmadi are preparing to appeal against the sentence in the coming days.
The hearings of his trial were held in July 2020 and February 2021 in Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj.
The first hearing of Kamangar’s trial was held in the Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj on 6 July 2020, on charges of “instigating armed uprising against government and the state” through membership in one of the Kurdish opposition parties. Judge Saeedi had informed Kamangar that, given the many documents provided by the intelligence office of Sanandaj, his trial would probably be held in two sessions.
Kamangar was detained in January 2019 with the beginning of a wave of widespread arrests of civil rights activists and members of the Kurdistan branch of the National Unity Party in the cities of Sanandaj, Kamyaran, and Marivan. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network had previously reported on the possibility of creation of files by security agencies against the detainees.
Security forces banned Hossein Kamangar from family visits and phone calls for several months after his arrest. A source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network in June 2020 that the ban was a practice by the intelligence office to forcing him to cooperate and make confessions on the TV.
During this period, Nasrin Naqdi and Nahid Kamangar, the wife and son of this Kurdish activist, were repeatedly summoned and interrogated by the intelligence office of Kamyaran.
In July 2019, Hossein Kamangar went on hunger strike for three weeks to protest the continuing uncertainty and his denial of his right to contact his family. He finally managed to make a phone call to his family on 7 August, ending his hunger strike.
With continuing pressures by the intelligence office, Borhan Kamangar, his niece and a member of the Kural music group, was arrested on 6 August 2019. He was transferred from the detention centre of the intelligence office of Sanandaj to Kamyaran Prison on 22 September, after the completion of his interrogation process and issuance of a temporary arrest warrant. After two weeks, his temporary arrest was turned to a bail of 500 million Iranian Tomans – nearly 20,000 USD – and he was released from prison on 11 October.
Eventually, Borhan Kamangar was sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj – presided over by Judge Saeedi – on 1 November on charges of “membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)”. The Court of Appeals of Sanandaj reduced the sentence to two years in prison after an appeal against the verdict. He was sent to Sanandaj Prison on 8 March 2020 to serve his two-year sentence.
