Shaker Behrouz, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death, staged a sit-in protest in front of the guard office of Orumiyeh Central Prison on 21 November, announcing a hunger strike in a letter.
The political prisoner has gone on a hunger strike to protest against the pressure exerted by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on members of the complaining family not to withdraw their complaints.
A source familiar with Behrouz’s case spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and said: “Since late September after the Supreme Court upheld the political prisoner’s death sentence on premeditated murder charges, the victim’s family has been pressured and threatened by the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC for not withdrawing their complaints”.
The source added: “The Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC had exerted pressure on the family of the victim, who was a local member of the IRGC, to file a complaint against the political prisoner. It has also recently warned them that if they withdrew the complaint, their rights would be cancelled at the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.”
Background
Shaker Behrouz, a resident of Orumiyeh, presented himself to the office of the intelligence ministry in Orumiyeh in late 2018 after receiving a letter of safe conduct and returning from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The Kurdish political prisoner was released after 14 days of interrogation.
On 17 February 2019, three months after his release, the Intelligence Protection Organisation of the IRGC arrested Behrouz on charges of “killing a member of the IRGC”.
They severely tortured him, both physically and mentally, under interrogation for a year and 18 days in the IRGC’s al-Mahdi base in Orumiyeh.
In a session that lasted no more than several minutes, Branch 2 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced the Kurdish political prisoner to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through “membership in the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan”.
The Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC accused Shaker Behrouz of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through “membership in the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan” and the “murder” of an IRGC member.
The political prisoner was sentenced to death in two separate cases on each of these charges.
