Kurdish civilian from Miandoab
Detention date: 26 February 2013
Charged with: Acting against national security
Sentence: Five years in prison
Current status: Released on 14 November 2017
Khezr Rasoul Morovvat, a literature expert and former activist student, was detained on 26 February 2013, after participating in a rally in support of Shinabad students in front of the Department of Education of Mahabad.
He was interrogated for three months in the detention centres of the Ministry of Intelligence in Mahabad and Orumiyeh in West Azerbaijan province.
In October 2013, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad – presided over by Judge Javadikia – sentenced Morovvat to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security”.
Morovvat was denied his right to have a lawyer during the trial.
A month later, on 18 December, Branch 10 of the Court of Appeals of Orumiyeh upheld the ruling.
On 8 March 2014, Morovvat was exiled to Orumiyeh Central Prison for unknown reasons and was returned to Mahabad Prison in April.
As part of the continued pressures on this Kurdish political prisoner, on 11 September 2016, the Public Prosecutor and the head of the Mahabad Prison gave orders to have him exiled to Miandoab Prison.
During his transfer, security forces handcuffed and fettered Morovvat and when he was handed over to Miandoab Prison, admission officers disrespected and insulted him.
The civil society activist had previously been arrested in August 1999 and sentenced to three years in prison and five years suspended imprisonment by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad. He had been released on parole after serving two years.
Moreover, despite passing the entrance exams for graduate studies, the literature expert was banned from pursuing a master’s degree in Iranian universities.
Morovvat was released from Miandoab Prison on 14 November 2017 after serving his sentence.
