Iranian Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj has released Madeh Fathi, the detained Kurdish civil rights activist and former member of the board of directors of the Green Society of Kurdistan, on 10 August.
On the same day, the ministry forces have arrested Khabat Mafakheri, a member of the organisation, and have taken him to an undisclosed location.
The intelligence ministry had arrested Madeh Fathi on 5 August. The activist went on a hunger strike in objection to his illegal detention at the detention centre of the ministry.
Security forces summoned, interrogated, and detained Fathi several times in recent years.
In the most recent case, security forces arrested him at his home on 10 August 2020. He was released on bail on 16 October 2020 after being held for two months in the detention centre of the intelligence ministry in Sanandaj.
Moreover, in May 2019, a court sentenced the activist to one year in prison and five years suspended imprisonment on “acting against national security” charges. The sentence was then reduced to seven months as he did not appeal against the verdict.
Meanwhile, on 10 August, security forces arrested activist Khabat Mafakheri at his home in Sanandaj and took him to an undisclosed location.
In June, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj had sentenced Mafakheri to four years suspended prison sentence on charges of “acting against national security” through “membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)”.
Moreover, on 27 August 2020, the intelligence ministry had arrested the environmental activist in Sanandaj and had transferred him to its detention centre in the city.
On 7 January, he was released on bail from Sanandaj Central Prison.
