The Islamic Revolutionary Court in northwestern Iran’s Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, continues to prolong the examination of the court cases of Kurdish activists Farzad Samani, Sakar Eini, and Mohammad Houshangi, one year after their arrests.
The activists are still being held in temporary detention in Orumiyeh Central Prison, accused of “armed insurrection” (baghi).
Farough Samani, Farzad Samani’s brother, spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and said: “One year has passed since the arrest of my brother Farzad Samani and Sakar Eini, and despite the constant follow-ups of the families and lawyers, their situation remains unresolved. Javad Gholami, a judge at the Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, who is in charge of the case, has so far delayed their trial due to ongoing investigations and insufficient documentation, and has refused to issue bails for their temporary release.”
He added that during the past year, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) summoned and interrogated some of Samani and Eini’s friends.
These individuals have said that they were interrogated for the filing of cases on the two Kurdish activists.
Separately, a relative of Houshangi, a Kurdish activist from Javanrud, in Iran’s western Kermanshah province, also said that the activist’s situation was still uncertain and that the Mahabad court was not proceeding with his case.
The case of the three Kurdish activists has been sent to Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through “membership in a Kurdish opposition party”, but the case has not yet been examined for unknown reasons.
On 9-10 January, the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC arrested the three activists in Tehran and Karaj during a wave of widespread arrests of Kurdish activists and civilians.
They took the activists to the Haft-e Tir detention centre of the security institution in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province.
On 1 June, Farzad Samani and Sakar Eini, and six months later Mohammad Houshangi, were transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison following the issuance of temporary arrest warrants.
