The Ministry of Intelligence has arrested Esmaeil Sanyar, a former political prisoner and civil rights activist, in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that intelligence agents raided Sanyar’s family home in the early hours of 2 July and detained him without a warrant.
He has reportedly been taken to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility in Orumiyeh, also in West Azerbaijan Province.
Sanyar has previously faced multiple arrests and legal proceedings. On 13 December 2015, he was arrested in Bukan by Ministry of Intelligence agents and held for one month in the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility in the city, where he was interrogated regarding allegations that he had shared information with foreign human rights organisations and media outlets.
After completing his interrogation, he was transferred to Bukan Prison and later released on bail.
His trial took place on 6 March 2016 at Branch 101 of the Public Court in Bukan, where he was acquitted of all charges.
However, the case was referred to Branch 10 of the Orumiyeh Court of Appeal after the Bukan Prosecutor’s Office appealed against the verdict.
In December 2016, after two hearings, Judges Aliyar Khalilzadeh and Mohammad Hossein Rezaei sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through his alleged membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).
Sanyar began serving his sentence in 2019 and was released in April 2020 under a Newroz amnesty issued by Iran’s judiciary.
He had also previously been detained by security forces in 2006 for several weeks.
