Pouria Javaheri, a Kurdish civilian from Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province, who was arrested during the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising in 2022, has begun a hunger strike to protest his prolonged detention in Sanandaj Central Prison without a final verdict.
Javaheri, who has been in legal limbo for over 25 months, initiated his hunger strike on 1 January 2025.
The Kurdish civilian was arrested during the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising on 29 November 2022 after being summoned by phone to the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Kamyaran.
After spending two and a half months in the IRGC’s Shahramfar detention centre in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, he was transferred to Kamyaran Prison in February 2023 and then moved to Sanandaj Central Prison in September 2023.
In August 2023, Javaheri’s lawyer, Mostafa Ahmadian, announced that his client had been charged by the Kamyaran Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office and that the case had been referred to Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj.
Ahmadian added that the charges against Javaheri included “enmity against God” (moharebeh) for the murder of a military officer, “membership of opposition groups”, “propaganda against the state”, and “intentionally assaulting on several military personnel.”
Javaheri’s trial was held on 7 October 2023 at Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj.
On 16 March 2024, his lawyer announced that Javaheri had been acquitted of the charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), “propaganda against the state”, and “membership of opposition groups”.
Meanwhile, a separate case involving the alleged “murder” of an IRGC officer and the wounding of others remains under investigation by the First Criminal Court of Kurdistan Province.
Javaheri has testified that he was subjected to physical and psychological torture in the Shahramfar detention centre in Sanandaj, leading to forced confessions. The judiciary has yet to address these allegations.
On 11 January 2023, Seyyed Hossein Hosseini, the head of Kurdistan Province’s judiciary, told state media that a warrant had been issued for Javaheri’s arrest on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh).
Hosseini added: “A case has been opened against this person at the First Branch of the Investigation Department of the Kamyaran Prosecutor’s Office. During his appearance at the investigation, he confessed to firing at the officers and stated that he had received the weapon from another person. This person was also arrested by court order.”
However, dozens of residents of Kamyaran signed and submitted a letter to the court stating that at the time of the officer’s death, Javaheri was working at an asphalt company in the village of Tilkuh in Kamyaran.
On 13 March 2023, under heavy security, Javaheri was transferred from prison to Towhid Street in Kamyaran and forced by security forces to take part in a staged reconstruction of the protest scene, where they claimed he had “taken part in the city protests and shot at military-security forces”.
According to eyewitnesses, IRGC and police forces had blocked all roads leading to Towhid Street that morning, and Javaheri was brought to the site in handcuffs and leg shackles.
Although he initially refused to take part in the staged reconstruction, he was forced to comply after being threatened with a firearm by security agents, said the eyewitnesses.
In December 2022, Javaheri’s parents publicly appealed to human rights organisations, asserting their son’s innocence.
In February 2023, Amnesty International issued an urgent action warning about the risk of severe sentences for those arrested during the nationwide protests, specifically naming Javaheri as one of the detainees facing grave charges.
