Kurdish political prisoners Keyhan Mokarram, Nayeb Hajizadeh, and Nayeb Askari have been sentenced to 50 lashes and three months in prison after the head of Orumiyeh Central Prison filed a complaint, accusing the prisoners of “disrupting the prison order”.

The lawsuit was filed after a general crimes prisoner beat a Kurdish political prisoner.

The court session of the three political prisoners was held on 12 July, and they were officially notified of the verdict on 2 August, sources told the KHRN.

Branch 119 of the 2nd Criminal Court of Shahid Beheshti Complex in Orumiyeh sentenced Keyhan Mokarram, Nayeb Hajizadeh, and Nayeb Askari to 50 lashes and three months imprisonment on charges of “disrupting the prison order”.

Judge Mohsen Moradi Ojghaz stated in the verdict that according to the penal code, the three-month imprisonment could be converted into providing free public services in the prison’s labour section.

On July 27, two prisoners for ordinary crimes attacked and beat the Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Hajizadeh in the main hall of the Orumiyeh Central Prison. After the intervention of the prison officers, Hajizadeh returned to the ward for political prisoners. After an hour, another fight took place in front of the prison guard office between political prisoners and the two prisoners that had attacked Hajizadeh.

The two prisoners that beat Hajizadeh were named as witnesses in the complaint filed by Amir Sohrabi, the head of the prison.

Security forces had arrested Nayeb Hajizadeh on 8 October 2019.

In December 2020, Branch 2 of the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court sentenced him to 10 years and one day in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through “membership in the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan”.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Keyhan Mokarram on 8 July 2019 in the village of Anbi in Orumiyeh. After two months in detention, he was released on bail pending trial.

Recently, Branch 2 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, presided over by Judge Ali Sheikhlou, sentenced the Kurdish civilian to five years in prison on charges of “collaborating with the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)”.

The sentence was upheld in the Court of Appeals of Orumiyeh after the political prisoner’s appeal against the ruling.
Moreover, Nayeb Askari, a Kurdish civilian from Orumiyeh, was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison on 17 June, after being held about three months in the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC.