Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Kurdish political prisoner Verisheh Moradi has begun an indefinite hunger strike on World Day against the Death Penalty to protest against the death penalty in Iran and her own prolonged detention, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Moradi, a member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR), has been held in Evin Prison's women’s ward since August 2023 on charges of "armed...

Kamran Ghassemi and Keyvan Rashozadeh, two political prisoners from Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, were conditionally released on 5 October after serving five years in Orumiyeh Central Prison, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.  Ghassemi had been on hunger strike since 25 September in protest at the authorities' refusal to grant him conditional release. Both men were released on 5 October, but Ghassemi, who had...

Kurdish political prisoner Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heidaranlou has been sentenced to death after being tortured into confessing to involvement in clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Iranian border guards. Hosseinnejad Heidaranlou, 39, from the village of Segrik in Chaldoran, West Azerbaijan Province, was sentenced to death in mid-July by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of...

The Ministry of Intelligence has banned family visits to Kurdish political prisoner Zeynab Jalalian, who is serving a life sentence in Yazd Central Prison, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.    Jalalian, who is in her 17th year behind bars, has only seen her family once since being transferred to the facility four years ago.  Additionally, on 26 September, suffering from severe pain in...

Kurdish political prisoner Ali (Diyar) Bakhshaei, a Kurdish political prisoner from Dargaz in Razavi Khorasan Province, has been denied furlough while serving a five-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Bakhshaei, a cultural activist and labourer, was arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran on 24 January 2019. After his arrest, he was taken to Ward 2A of the IRGC’s...

The initial court hearing for Verisheh Moradi and the second session for Pakhshan Azizi took place on 16 June at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran on charges of "armed insurrection" (baghi), which carries the death penalty in Iran. Verisheh Moradi, a member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR), was transferred from the women's ward of Evin prison to Branch 15 of the...

Kurdish political prisoner Keyvan Rashozadeh has been transferred from Orumiyeh Central Prison to the detention facility of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at Al-Mahdi base in the city, where he has been subjected to interrogation and threats. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Rashozadeh was transferred to the IRGC detention facility last week while he was on...

Anvar Chaleshi, a Kurdish political prisoner suffering from colon cancer, remains handcuffed and shackled in a hospital in Orumiyeh as the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has blocked his medical leave, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Chaleshi, 50, was transferred to Khomeini Hospital several weeks ago due to his deteriorating health. A source familiar with his condition told the...

Kurdish political prisoner Shahram Kazemian was transferred to Razi Psychiatric Hospital in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on the night of 26 May after being beaten by prison officers in Orumiyeh Central Prison on the orders of the prison head. A source who spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) on the matter said: "The Kurdish political prisoner was temporarily released from prison in 2021...