Two Kurdish Sunni religious figures, Hossein Khosravi and Hiwa Nouri, have been released on bail from Orumiyeh Central Prison after being charged with “armed insurrection” (baghi), while the case of a third accused cleric, Soleyman Adhami, has been transferred to the Special Clerical Court in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, where he remains in temporary custody.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Khosravi, an imam from a village near Baneh,Kurdistan Province, and Nouri, a religious activist, were released after posting bail of 20 billion rials (nearly 30,000 USD).
Adhami, imam of a village near Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, was initially tried in the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, but is now being tried in the Special Clerical Court of Tabriz.
The three religious figures were arrested by Ministry of Intelligence officers in Bukan on 29 and 30 January and taken to the Ministry’s detention facility in Orumiyeh.
The three men were subjected to three months of prolonged interrogation and torture to extract forced confessions before being transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
The charges against these individuals, which include “armed insurrection”, “membership of the terrorist group Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah” and “propaganda against the state”, were initially submitted to the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh.
According to statistics compiled by KHRN, at least 12 Kurdish civilians and activists are currently being held in limbo in Iranian prisons on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) and “enmity against God” (moharebeh).
