Ali Baderkhani, the detained Kurdish author who is spending the last months of his three-year sentence under harsh conditions at the Orumiyeh Central Prison, is still deprived of medical care, furlough, and conditional release.
A source close to this Kurdish author has told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that the health condition of this prisoner was critical.“Ali Baderkhani has been suffering from kidney disease for more than 15 months. However, prison officials are totally oblivious to his health and have kept him in Labour Ward which lacks basic health facilities and amenities.”
“Ali Baderkhani was beaten twice by the other inmates after being transferred to the Labour Ward last year. The inmates had been provoked by the ward officer, Mehr Ali Farhang.” the source added.
Mehr Ali Farhang has been previously responsible for the Political Ward and he has been involved in making unfounded allegations against the political prisoners with the help of prison’s Intelligence Department.
The labour ward is one of the worst wards of Orumiyeh Central Prison in terms of facilities. This ward is separate from the other wards and it is located at the central courtyard of the prison. This ward is often the place where prisoners of heavy drug crimes are being held. The prisoners detained in this ward are usually given a two-day leave every week but Baderkhani has been deprived of any leaves so far. The capacity of this ward is about 150 people, but there are currently 400 prisoners in this ward. These prisoners are forced to carry out unpaid labour in the form of managing all the ward’s services and repairs including cooking and repairing equipment, building work, etc.
Ali Baderkhani, known as Showan and from the famous Kurdish family of Baderkhani, immigrated to Iran with his family from Iraqi Kurdistan about thirty years ago and he has Iraqi-Iranian citizenship. Some of his publications include “Turkey, Democracy and Kurds”, “Discussion of Idea”, Refugee of Love and “Kurdish Tales & Myths”.
He was barred from continuing his education while studying at the last semester of a Master’s Degree at Tehran University in 2014. He was arrested at his sister’s house in Orumiyeh on December 25, 2014, and he was interrogated at the Detention Centre of Orumiyeh for 20 days on the charge of acting against national security. During this time, he was repeatedly tortured to make false confessions.
He was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison on January 15 after being interrogated. Ali Baderkhani was released on bail after spending two months at Orumiyeh Central Prison. A few months later, Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced this author to five years in prison for allegedly acting against national security. Upon contesting this verdict, the case was referred to branch 10 of the Orumiyeh Court of Appeal which reduced the sentence to 3 years of imprisonment.
On March 29, 2017, Baderkhani was summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office of Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court where he was arrested and transferred to section 3-4 of the Ordinary Prisoners’ Ward at Orumiyeh Central Prison to endure his imprisonment sentence.
