Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Today, Iran released a Kurdish political prisoner named Khaled Fereydouni under judiciary amnesty. The political prisoner was released from Orumiyeh Central Prison after serving 22 years. He spent his imprisonment in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province; Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj, Alborz province; and Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province. Fereydouni was sent on temporary leave for the first time in January the 21st year of his imprisonment. The Islamic Revolutionary...

Kurdish woman political prisoner Sinur Tamara, who is a citizen of Turkey, has been released from Orumiyeh Central Prison under judiciary amnesty on 21 July after spending about two years in prison. Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, Iran's northwestern West Azerbaijan province, had sentenced Tamara to ten years and one day in prison on charges of "membership in the Kurdistan Workers’...

Kurdish political prisoner Keyvan Rashozadeh was transferred last week from the safe ward to the labour ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison. On 13 June, the political prisoner was transferred to a safe ward after he had announced a hunger strike by sewing his lips in protest against the opposition of the prison authorities to his leave request. Rashozdeh has reportedly ended his strike after prison authorities...

A Kurdish political prisoner named Matin Hassanvand committed suicide and lost his life on 6 July, a day after being sent on temporary leave from Maku prison on 6 July. So far, there is no information on why the prisoner committed suicide. Security forces arrested Hassanvand, 22, while performing his military service at a base in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province, in November 2020. After about a month...

Prison guards in Orumiyeh prison, northwest Iran, have beaten hunger-striking Kurdish political prisoners Shaker Behrouz and Nayeb Askari with batons on 31 March. The prison officers have raided the cells where Behrouz and Askari are held in solitary confinement, taken them to the main quarantine hall, and beaten them in front of the other prisoners with batons. Reportedly, the incident took place after the prisoners set...

Kurdish political prisoners Shaker Behrouz and Nayeb Askari were transferred to solitary confinement on the orders of the authorities of Orumiyeh Central Prison on 30 March. The two political prisoners have been on a hunger strike since 29 March to protest against their transfer from the ward for prisoners of conscience to the quarantine ward and ward 2. In the past few months, following the transfer...

An Iranian court has recently sentenced a Kurdish civilian named Hatem Ozdemir, who holds Turkish citizenship, to death after holding him in detention for 33 months. Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Khoy, West Azerbaijan province, charged Ozdemir with "armed insurrection" (baghi) through "membership in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)". "Hatem Ozdemir's last court hearing was held at Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court...

Iran has released a Kurdish political prisoner on parole and sent another on temporary leave from Yazd Prison in the central province of Yazd in the past week. Political prisoner Rostam Arkia was released on parole on 9 March after 15 years in prison. Also, on 15 March, political prisoner Qader Mohammadzadeh, who was in the 17th year of imprisonment, was sent on temporarily leave on...

Kurdish political prisoner Mohammad Moradi has been released from Naqadeh Prison, northwestern Iran, on 12 March, on a heavy bail of 8 billion Tomans – nearly 320,000 USD. In late February, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, sentenced Moradi to 15 years of life in exile in the city of Chavarzaq in Zanjan Province, northwestern Iran. It charged the political...