A Turkish court in Hakkari, in south-east Turkey, has sentenced Kurdish environmental activist and former political prisoner Mahyar Ahmadi, from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, to six years and three months in prison.
The court charged Ahmadi with “membership of one of the Kurdish opposition parties”, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
Ahmadi was arrested on 12 September by Turkish border guards at the border between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey.
The activist was recently informed of the verdict in Van Prison in eastern Turkey, where he is serving his sentence.
Initially held in a prison in Hakkari, Ahmadi was later transferred to Van Prison after his trial.
After being identified by Iranian security forces for his involvement in the anti-government uprising of Women Life Freedom, Ahmadi was forced to leave Iran in autumn 2022 and seek refuge in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
In September, under pressure from the security services of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he left the Kurdistan Region and, attempting to reach Europe via Turkey, was detained by Turkish border guards at the border between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey.
Previously, on 6 February 2018, Ahmadi was arrested by Iranian security forces in Sanandaj for his civic activities. After spending two months in temporary detention, he was released on bail from Sanandaj Central Prison.
In April 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj sentenced the activist to three months in prison and three years of suspended imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the state”.
A month later, he was arrested and transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison to serve his sentence following a summons to the Sanandaj Court’s Enforcement of Judgments Office in May 2018.
