On Wednesday, July 12, Adnan Rashidi (Kurdish activist) was released from Asayesh detention centre in Penjwein after being detained for 10 days.

Kurdish security forces ‘known as Asayish’ arrested Rashidi, who is a member of the Kurdistan Human Rights Association (KMMK) on Monday, July 3, and transferred him to Asayish office under the pretext of a simple questioning. He was then transferred to the detention centre in Sulaymaniyah after four hours of interrogation. The next day, Asayesh forces seized Rashidi’s car in front of his home.

On Sunday, July 09, Rashidi was transferred to the Penjwein Security Bureau from the detention centre in Sulaimaniyah (known as the “Asayesh Gashti”) under tight security measures. He was transferred to Penjwein’s court in the afternoon of the same day, but his court hearing was postponed to the next day due to end of office hours. This Kurdish detainee announced his hunger strike in protest to his illegitimate arrest on the recommendation of the Iranian government.

According to KHRN, the security forces did not allow his family to visit him during his presence in the court and transferred him to the Asayesh office in Penjwein.

Reports indicate that this political activist has been tortured at Asayesh detention centre in Sulaimaniyah for his political and civil activities in Iraqi Kurdistan. The interrogators of the Security Bureau have described his activities in Iraqi Kurdistan as “Infidelity to the Islamic Republic of Iran” and threatened him with deporting to Iran. It is noteworthy that, as a political asylum seeker in the Kurdistan region, his deportation to Iran will endanger his life.

Adnan Rashidi, Kurdish activist residing in Marivan, was arrested by Security forces in Marivan City in March 2006. He was interrogated and tortured for 4 months in solitary confinement at Intelligence Centres of Marivan and Sanandaj. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and exile to in Izeh Prison by the Marvin Revolutionary Court without access to a lawyer.

In August 2008, the former Kurdish prisoner went on a 50-day hunger strike in protest to the unfair verdict against him. Sanandaj Court of Appeals commutated his punishment to 12 years of imprisonment without exile.

During his time in prison, he has suffered from various illnesses such as intestinal infection and obstruction, diabetes, rheumatism, vision impairment and nervous system disorders. He has been under treatment at various hospitals in Marivan, Sanandaj and Tehran for several times. Finally, after receiving a medical furlough in 2015, he left the country and claimed asylum in the Kurdistan Region.

Pictures belong to the time of his medical furlough and hospitalisation in various hospitals in Iran during his detention: