A civil activist in Sanandaj was summoned to the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court on the charges of ‘Insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran’ while a journalist from Mahabad was also summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad on the charges of “publishing lies in cyberspace”.

According to Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), a civil activist from Sanandaj called Sediq Rostami was summoned to branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj on the charge of insulting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader. The summons was served on the defendant on Sept 23, 2018, and he was asked to attend Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj on Oct 7, 2018. Rasoul (Hajar) Rahimi, the director of the “Hawal” news site, was also summoned on Sept 15, 2018, to Branch 2 of the Public Prosecution and Revolutionary court of Orumiyeh following a complaint by Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, a representative of the Mahabad in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, on charges of publishing lies.

The Hawal news site is a news site licensed by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance that covers Kurdish political, economic and cultural news in both Kurdish and Persian languages.

It should be noted that the new round of summons and trial of media and civil activists has only increased due to various content on news sites and social networks over the past few months.

Pictures of these two subpoenas: