An Iranian court has recently sentenced a Kurdish civilian named Hatem Ozdemir, who holds Turkish citizenship, to death after holding him in detention for 33 months.
Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Khoy, West Azerbaijan province, charged Ozdemir with “armed insurrection” (baghi) through “membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”.
“Hatem Ozdemir’s last court hearing was held at Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Khoy late this summer [2021]. He was officially informed of his death sentence in Orumiyeh Central Prison on 15 March”, a source familiar with the case of the political prisoner told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
The source added: “On the evening of 2 July 2019, a group of PKK members were ambushed in the border areas of Chaldoran by forces of the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Orumiyeh. Hatem Ozdemir, who lost consciousness due to a mortar shell hitting him during the shelling of the region, was detained and taken to the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC.”
On 19 August 2019, he was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison after the end of the interrogation period.
On 7 March 2022, Branch 2 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh had also sentenced another Kurdish political prisoner named Firouz Musalou to the death penalty on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through “membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”, after 33 months of temporary detention.
