Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Mohammad Khezrnezhad, a Kurdish Sunni cleric arrested during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising. State news agencies reported that the sentence had been commuted to imprisonment, but the exact length of the sentence remains unknown to Khezrnezhad and his legal team. On 11 June, Nasser Atbati, the head of the West Azerbaijan Province Judiciary, told state media:...

Branch 41 of Iran's Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Razini, upheld the death sentence and 16-year prison term for Kurdish Sunni cleric Mohammad Khezrnezhad in early April, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. On 30 December 2023, after 14 months of detention, Branch Three of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, presided over by Judge Reza Najafzadeh, sentenced Khezrnezhad...

Security forces raided the home of Kurdish Sunni cleric Mohammad Sharifi in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, arresting him without a warrant on 27 August. Sources indicate that during the operation, officers forced their way into the cleric's home, breaking doors and windows in the process. They also confiscated his personal belongings. Details of the charges brought against Sharifi and his current whereabouts remain unknown. The incident follows...

The Special Clerical Court in Hamadan in western Iran has sentenced Kurdish Sunni cleric Arman Sadeghi to seven and a half months in prison, 74 lashes and the revocation of his clerical status for his support of the recent anti-government protests. The court charged Sadeghi with "disturbing public opinion" and "propaganda against the state", the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. The Sunni Kurdish cleric...

Iran's Special Clerical Court in Hamadan sentenced Kurdish Sunni cleric Saber Khoda-Moradi to seven months in prison and 74 lashes in the past few days, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. The sentence, communicated to the cleric by telephone, was suspended for three years. There is no detailed information available about the charges brought against the religious teacher who was summoned to the Special...

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence detained Kurdish Sunni clerics Jafar Parvini and Ali Rahimi after summoning them in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan province, on 20 February. The two clerics were summoned over their support for the recent anti-government protests in Iran and their condemnation of the suppression of protesters by the military-security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Parvini, a teacher in the Salahuddin Ayoubi religious school...

Detained Kurdish Sunni clerics Sharif Mahmudpour and Seyyed Soleiman Ahmadi were released on bail from Orumieh Central Prison on 12 February. Another Kurdish cleric Younes Nowkhah's detention has been extended for 15 days, Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Mahmudpour, the imam of the Rasoul Allah Mosque in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan province, and Ahmadi, who teaches at the Salahuddin Ayubi School of Religious Studies in...