The imprisonment sentence of four Kurdish civil activists- Ardeshir Mousavi, Arsalan Hedayati, Shahriyar Tahmasebi and Mostafa Bagheri Ashna– previously sentenced to nine months in prison by the Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Islamic Revolutionary Court was reduced to four months.
Mustafa Ahmadian, the lawyer for the Kurdish activists, has told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) the Branch 18 of the Court of Appeals reduced the imprisonment sentence of these Kurdish activists from 9 months to 4 months after hearing their defence statements on Aug 22, 2020.All of these individuals were arrested on July 5, 2016, in a coordinated action by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Unit. After two months of detention in solitary confinement at the Kermanshah Intelligence Center, they were released from Dieselabad Prison on heavy bails.
Earlier in June, Mustafa Ahmadian told the KHRN that there were numerous serious charges against these four Kurdish activists, including membership in anti-regime groups, forming and running a population with the intention of disrupting national security, gathering and colluding with national security and insulting the Supreme Leader. However, they were acquitted of all charges except for the charge of “propaganda against the state” for which they were initially sentenced to 9 months in prison.
