Arrest

Hemin Gholizadeh, a Kurdish civilian from Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence forces at his home in the city on 30 November 2024, along with his father, Abdollah Gholizadeh.

Gholizadeh was denied family visits and access to legal representation during his detention.

After being held for several weeks at the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, he was transferred to Bukan Prison and provisionally released in late December 2024 on bail.

Judicial Process

Gholizadeh was sentenced by Branch 101 of the Second Criminal Court in Bukan to two years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through alleged collaboration with the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).

Current Status

Gholizadeh was taken to Bukan Prison on 24 May 2025 to begin serving his sentence.

Notes:

1. Article 499 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Anyone who joins one of the groups, associations, or branches of the associations mentioned in Article 498 shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months to five years, unless it is proven that they were unaware of the group’s objectives.”

2. The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) was established in 2004 in the Qandil Mountains along the border of Iraqi Kurdistan with Iranian Kurdistan. This party follows the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and bases its activities on the paradigm of a “democratic and ecological society based on women’s freedom”.

According to the party’s charter, PJAK considers the establishment of democratic confederalism and a political form of democratic self-governance for organising people to build a “democratic nation” as one of its fundamental goals. PJAK also participated in the establishment of the East Kurdistan Democratic and Free Society (KODAR). The headquarters of this party is in the mountainous areas between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iranian Kurdistan.