Kurdish civilian and citizen of Iran and Turkey

Detention date: 27 October 2014

Charged with: Membership in the PKK, disrupting public order, acting against national security, illegal residence in the country, propaganda against the state in prison, disrupting prison order

Sentence: 19 years and three months in prison and 20 lashes, of which 15 years are enforceable in accordance to the Article 134

Current status: Imprisoned in Orumiyeh Central Prison

Hassan Rastegari-Majd, a Kurdish civilian living in Orumiyeh, was arrested by Iranian security forces on 26 October 2014 for participating in “rallies in support of the Kobani resistance” in Orumiyeh, along with at least 15 other Kurdish civilians.

He was then taken to the ward 3-4 of the prison of Orumiyeh. After about a year he was transferred to the psychiatric ward of the prison – the ward for prisoners with drug offences.

In September 2015, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced the prisoner to 15 years in prison on charges such as “disrupting public order”, “acting against national security”, and “membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”.

The Court of Appeals of West Azerbaijan province upheld the verdict.

In other cases, the civilian was sentenced to three years in prison for “illegal residence in the country” and one year in prison for “propaganda against the state while in prison”.

In December 2016, Rastegari-Majd went on a hunger strike for 32 days, protesting against the security agencies’ attempts to file new cases against him and the rejection of his appeal for a retrial.

While on hunger strike, he was transferred from solitary confinement to Branch 104 of the city court and was tried for “disrupting prison order”. The court sentenced him to 20 lashes and three months in prison in January 2017.

Rastegari-Majd was sentenced to a total of 19 years and three months in prison. According to Article 134 of the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (the Law on Consolidation of Sentences), 15 years of this sentence is enforceable.

Rastegari-Majd, a father of three, has been living in Iran since 1993 and was granted Iranian citizenship.

He went on another hunger strike on 23 September 2019 to protest against the revocation of his identity card by the general court of Orumiyeh and the threats by security agencies to return him to Turkey after serving his sentence.

Eventually, on 31 October, he ended his 39-day strike following promises by the city’s deputy prosecutor to meet his demands.