Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Kurdish prisoner of conscience Abdolaziz Gol-Mohammadi is in critical condition on the 27th day of his hunger strike in Orumiyeh Central Prison. Despite recent meetings with the authorities, including Morad Fathi, the Director General of Prisons in West Azerbaijan Province, and Nasser Atabati, the provincial head of the judiciary, no concrete action has been taken in response to Gol-Mohammadi's request for leave. Gol-Mohammadi's hunger strike has...

Kurdish political prisoner Khaled Zamani remains behind bars in Yazd Central Prison despite being granted conditional release. Zamani, who has served more than half of his 30-year sentence, has been denied parole due to opposition from the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the prison classification council in Yazd, along with the supervising judge,...

Qassem Abasteh, a 44-year-old Kurdish political prisoner, was executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on 5 November after 14 years in prison. Abasteh and six other Kurdish civilians had previously received death sentences in a joint case on charges of "spreading corruption on earth" (efsad-e fel arz) after an unfair trial. The political prisoner was moved to solitary confinement for execution on 29 October. After learning...

Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Askari, who was previously sentenced to death in absentia by the Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of "armed insurrection" through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), has been sentenced to death again following a retrial request and several in-person court sessions at the same branch. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network...

Kurdish political prisoner Arsalan Khodkam, 48, faces the risk of losing his eyesight due to being denied access to medical care at Orumiyeh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province. Khodkam was transferred to the prison infirmary last week due to a drop in his blood pressure. However, an incorrect injection has caused his health to deteriorate further, putting his eyesight at serious risk. Prison authorities have told...

Nayeb Askari, a Kurdish political prisoner facing a death sentence, went on a hunger strike on 28 September in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, in protest at the Iranian security authorities' continued pressure to issue a second death sentence against him. Following the announcement of his hunger strike, Askari was immediately moved to solitary confinement on the orders of the prison authorities. In June, on the orders...

Kurdish political prisoner Keyvan Rashozadeh was transferred to solitary confinement in Orumiyeh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province yesterday for protesting against the conditions in the political prisoners' ward. Rashozadeh went on hunger strike the same day in response to his placement in solitary confinement. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that during a visit by prison officials on 5 September, a group of...

Kurdish political prisoner Motalleb Ahmadian, who suffers from a diaphragmatic hernia and duodenal problems, remains in a critical physical condition as he continues to be denied access to specialised medical care in medical facilities outside Tehran's Evin prison. Despite warnings from doctors about his deteriorating health, the Tehran prosecutor has so far refused to authorise his hospitalisation. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that...

Zeynab Jalalian, Iran's only woman political prisoner serving a life sentence, has been threatened and coerced into making forced confessions and expressing remorse by interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence. Over the past few months, a team of interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence has met with Jalalian several times in Yazd Central Prison, telling her that her freedom or access to medical care depends...