An Iranian court has sentenced Kurdish woman and environmental activist Faranak Jamshidi to four years in prison, accusing her of “membership in one of the Kurdish opposition parties”, sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
The trial of Jamshidi’s case was held on 23 January, and the sentence was officially notified to her lawyer on 2 February.
Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj – presided over by Judge Saeidi – sentenced Faranak Jamshidi to four years in prison on charges of “membership in one of the Kurdish opposition parties”.
Reportedly, participation in protest rallies condemning the Turkish army’s offensive on the town of Serekaniye (also Ras al-Ayn) in the Kurdish region of Syria (Rojava) and membership in telegram groups have been considered as membership in one of the Kurdish opposition parties.
Security forces had arrested Faranak Jamshidi, a member of the Green Kurdistan Society, at her family home in Sanandaj on 28 June 2020. She was released on 10 November on a bail of 200 million Iranian Tomans – nearly 8,000 USD – after four-and-a-half months of detention.
Faranak Jamshidi had previously been summoned several times by security agencies during a large- scale mass arrest of environmental activists and members of the Kurdistan branch of the National Unity Party in fall of 2018, and was interrogated about her activities and those of her husband Armin Esperlus, who was in custody at the time.
