Sasan Chamanara, a Kurdish artist and civil rights activist from Ilam, has been sentenced to three months in prison and fined 200 million rials (around 350 USD) by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Ilam on charges of “propaganda against the state in favour of opposition groups and media”.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Chamanara was summoned to the office of Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Ilam on 9 March. Surprisingly, he was informed of the verdict without being tried in a court session.
Chamanara underwent an interrogation session on 19 February at the fourth interrogation branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Ilam.
Subsequent to the indictment, the case was referred to the first branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in the city, which issued a verdict against the Kurdish artist without holding a formal court session.
The Kurdish artist was arrested by security forces in Ilam on 17 January and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention centre in the city, where he was interrogated for a week before being released on bail on 24 January.
Chamanara was previously beaten and arrested on 7 October 2022 during the anti-government uprising of Women Life Freedom in Tehran.
He was interrogated for 21 days in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Detention Centre and for 18 days by the Ministry of Intelligence in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, before being transferred to the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary.
In January 2023, Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Seyyed Ali Mazloum, sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security”.
On 24 January 2023, the artist was released from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary on bail of 10 billion Iranian rials – nearly 20,000 USD.
Although the Tehran Province Appeals Court upheld the sentence, it was suspended for five years by Branch One of the Execution of Judgements Office.
A few months later, Chamanara was summoned to the prosecutor’s office in Evin Prison, where he was interrogated and accused of “propaganda against the state” in connection with a video clip he had shared on social media on the anniversary of the government’s killing of Jina Amini.
