Kurdish political prisoner Basam Moradi who is serving his five-year prison sentence in Kamyaran Prison has gone on a hunger strike today, on 25 May, to protest against being denied of his basic rights and non-compliance of prison authorities with the principle of segregation of crimes.
In a letter to prison officials, Moradi explained the reason for his hunger strike as “Lack of independence of the judiciary in the cases of political defendants, imposition of punishment and imprisonment without legal reasons and evidence, denying political prisoners of temporary leave, parole, and reduction of prison terms, and non-separation of political prisoners from prisoners of dangerous crimes.”
The Kurdish civilian was arrested by security forces in Kamyaran on 29 April 2019 and was transferred to the office of the intelligence ministry in Sanandaj. After being interrogated, he was transferred to Kamyaran Prison and was released on 4 January 2020 on a bail of 500 million Iranian Tomans – nearly 20,000 USD.
His trial was held in Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj in mid-January of the same year. The court sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of “membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)” and to 10 years in prison on charges of “espionage”. Later Court of Appeals commuted these sentences to 10 years in prison, of which only five years will be enforceable according to the law on consolidation of sentences.
On 3 April 2020, the political prisoner was transferred to Kamyaran Prison to serve the sentence.
