Kurdish civilian from Salmas, West Azerbaijan province
Detention date: 24 October 2007
Charged with: Enmity against God through membership in the PJAK
Sentence: 15 years in prison and internal exile to Orumiyeh Central Prison
Current status: Released on 16 December 2021
The Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested political activist Ahmad Tamoui in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, on 24 October 2007, and took him to the detention centre of the intelligence agency in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province.
In 2016, Tamoui wrote an open letter to Ahmad Shahid, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran at the time. In the letter, he said that in 2007 he had been held in solitary confinement and tortured for two months in the detention facility of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Orumiyeh on the accusation of “membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)”.
He was tortured with “electric shock”, “hanging”, “whipping”, and “mock execution”, he said in the letter.
After two months of interrogation and torture, the political prisoner had been transferred to the office of the Ministry of Intelligence in Mahabad, and was interrogated there for another month. He was then taken to Mahabad Prison.
In February 2008, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad tried Tamoui in a 10-minute-long hearing on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh). It sentenced the activist to 15 years in prison and internal exile to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
Following the verdict, security forces threatened his lawyer, forcing him to resign from the case. As a result, Tamoui could not appeal against the ruling and the outcome of the court of the first instance was upheld.
In the summer of 2008, after he objected to the court’s conduct during the inspection of the Public Prosecutor of West Azerbaijan province, and as his sentence was confirmed, he was internally exiled to Orumiyeh Central Prison.
According to an earlier open letter by Tamoui in January 2011, during the execution of the political prisoner Hossein Khezri, authorities of Orumiyeh Central Prison transferred Tamoui and some other political prisoners to solitary confinement in order to intimidate and psychologically torture them. After Khezri’s execution, Tamoui went on a hunger strike for 20 days to protest against the conduct of prison authorities during the execution.
On 18 February 2011, Tamoui was transferred from Orumiyeh Central Prison to the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in the city. He was interrogated and tortured in solitary confinement for one month on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “communication with foreign media”.
He was also taken to solitary confinement in Orumiyeh Central Prison in early 2012 for no reason and was held there for 25 days.
After that, in February 2012, he was transferred to solitary confinement in the office of the intelligence ministry in Orumiyeh for two days. He was subjected to psychological pressure to make forced confessions on TV.
The political prisoner was once again taken from Orumiyeh Central Prison to the office of the intelligence ministry on 11 October 2012, where he was interrogated and tortured for two months on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “communication with Ahmad Shaheed, [the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran]”.
According to Tamoui, interrogators wanted him to give an interview on TV, but he refused it.
Following this, at midnight on 10 December 2012, he was transferred to the interrogation room for psychological torture. He was informed that his death sentence had been issued in absentia and would be carried out soon. However, he continued to refuse to be interviewed on TV.
That night, he was internally exiled from Orumiyeh to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj in handcuffs and fetters. He spent seven months in prison while being denied his right to receive phone calls or in-person visits by his family.
The political prisoner was returned to Orumiyeh Central Prison in July 2013. One month after his transfer to the prison, he was summoned to the prison intelligence office, where he was interrogated, tortured, and ill-treated.
He was then transferred to solitary confinement for six days. He was also taken to an ordinary crimes ward for a week as a punitive action.
Following the numerous new cases filed by the security forces against Tamoui, a hearing was held on 8 November 2016, at Branch 3 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, presided over by Judge Mahboubi. The court acquitted him on 14 February 2017 due to a lack of evidence to prove the allegations.
During these years, Tamoui was repeatedly threatened and interrogated by the office of the intelligence ministry in Orumiyeh Central Prison for participating in strikes of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
He was deprived of his right to temporary leave and parole during his imprisonment.
Finally, the political prisoner was released from Orumiyeh Central Prison on 16 December 2021 after serving 14 years of his 15-year prison sentence.