Branch 2 of the investigation department of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, summoned former Kurdish political prisoner Afshin Hossein-Panahi on 9 November.
A relative of the civil rights activist spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and said: “Afshin has been asked to present himself at Branch 2 of the investigation department of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sanandaj to defend himself against the accusation of “propaganda in favour of groups and organisations opposed to the Islamic Republic [of Iran]” within five days after the summoning notification on the Sana portal.”
[Sana is an online portal through which citizens can access and see all judicial notices and judicial documents communicated to them.]
“After the death of Khalo Mirza, the civil activist’s father, security institutions abducted his body; an act that led to a public protest rally, which in turn led to threats by these institutions towards the members of Hossein-Panahi’s family. The family members were threatened that court cases would be filed against them”, added the relative.
Security forces detained Afshin Hossein-Panahi, a civil rights activist with a history of working with environmental organisations, at his home on 26 July 2017, three days after the detention of his brother, Ramin Hossein-Panahi.
In November 2017, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Saeidi, sentenced the activist to eight and a half years in prison on charges of “holding Nowruz (also Newroz) ceremonies” and “collaborating with a Kurdish opposition party”.
According to the Law on Consolidation of Sentences of the Iranian Islamic Penal Code, six years of the verdict was applicable.
The activist was released on parole in April 2020 while was on temporary leave.
Hossein-Panahi had also been sentenced to one year in prison in 2012 on charges of “propaganda against the state” in the course of following up the case of the suspicious death of his brother, Ashraf Hossein-Panahi.
Ramin Hossein-Panahi, a Kurdish political prisoner and brother of Afshin Hossein-Panahi, was executed on 8 September 2018, along with Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi, two other political prisoners, in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.
