Kurdish political prisoner Mohammad Moradi has been released from Naqadeh Prison, northwestern Iran, on 12 March, on a heavy bail of 8 billion Tomans – nearly 320,000 USD.
In late February, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, sentenced Moradi to 15 years of life in exile in the city of Chavarzaq in Zanjan Province, northwestern Iran.
It charged the political prisoner with “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership in the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI).
The political prisoner is said to have been released pending a final verdict.
Mohammad Moradi, a resident of Qabar Hoseyn village of Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan province, was arrested on 22 April 2018 upon his entry to the country from the Kileh border crossing in Sardasht by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Piranshahr, after his family coordinated his return from Iraqi Kurdistan to Iran with the IRGC.
After his arrest, he was taken to the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Orumiyeh.
The political prisoner was subjected to the most severe tortures for 45 days in this detention centre to make forced confessions for his alleged “membership in the KDPI and return to Iran for armed operations”.
On 12 May 2021, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, sentenced Moradi to 40 years in prison and internal exile to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
It charged the political prisoner with “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership in the KDPI.
In October 2021, Branch 34 of the country’s Supreme Court referred the case to Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad for review due to the insufficiency of the case file.
The Kurdish civilian’s trial was held by video conference on 23 February and after a few days, he was informed of his sentence of 15 years of life in exile in the city of Chavarzaq in Zanjan Province.
Moradi, 35, is married and has two children. He is also the brother of two kolbars Sadegh Moradi and Abdolrahman Moradi who were shot and tortured to death by the IRGC forces in the Kotran border area in the Qandil Mountains in October 2019.
