Kurdish political prisoner Houshmand Alipour, who is serving an eight-year sentence in Sanandaj Central Prison, went on a hunger strike on 26 June in protest at being deprived of his conditional release.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Alipour, who has served five years of his eight-year sentence, has had his conditional release denied due to opposition from the security services.
The political prisoner had also gone on a 15-day hunger strike in November 2021 to protest the Ministry of Intelligence’s refusal to grant his request for temporary leave.
The Sanandaj prosecutor had previously refused his request to attend the funeral of his brother, Zhiyan Alipour, a young Kolbar who was shot dead by Iranian border guards in Sardasht, West Azerbaijan province, on 14 October.
On 3 August 2018, security forces arrested Houshmand Alipour and Mohammad Ostad-Ghader near Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, and took them to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj.
After 108 days of interrogation, the two were transferred to Saqqez Prison and finally to Sanandaj Central Prison in January 2019.
On 23 October 2019, their trial was held at Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, presided over by Judge Saeidi, on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership in the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK).
In January 2020, the court sentenced Alipour to the death penalty and Ghader to five years in prison.
In September 2020, following an appeal by Alipour, the country’s Supreme Court overturned the sentence and referred the case to Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj.
On 20 September 2020, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj sentenced Alipour to eight years in prison on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) for being a member of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK).
