Masoud Kurdpour, the editor-in-chief of Mukrian News Agency, was released from the prison of Bukan, West Azerbaijan province, on 14 February under amnesty.
The Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Bukan had sentenced Kurdpour to a total of 17 months in prison.
“Neither the political prisoner nor his lawyer did not request a pardon and his release was without prior notice”, an informed source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
In the past few days, some political prisoners were released without prior notice after a decree to grant amnesty and reduction of sentences was issued.
Security forces arrested Kurdpour at his family home in Bukan on 20 September 2022 and took him to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province.
After initial interrogations, he was transferred to Miandoab Prison, in West Azerbaijan province. He was recently transferred to Bukan Prison.
On 30 November 2022, the journalist was tried in the form of a video conference and the verdict was communicated to him in Bukan prison over the past few days.
The verdict stated that Kurdpour had been sentenced to 17 months in jail as follows: nine months for “propaganda against the state” and eight months for “disrupting public order”.
