Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Nayeb Askari, a Kurdish political prisoner facing the death penalty, has been returned to the general ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison after one day in solitary confinement, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Askari was placed in solitary confinement on 27 March after a verbal altercation with prison officers. The move was ordered by the prison director as a form of punishment. However,...

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...

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 Nayeb Askari, who is on death row, was transferred from the political ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison to ward 3 of the prison on the orders of the Ministry of Intelligence in Orumiyeh. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that prison officials visited the political ward of the prison today and told Askari that he was not allowed to stay...

The Ministry of Intelligence has summoned some of the families of political prisoners in Orumiyeh Central Prison and interrogated them following the pressure on the prisoners. Also, in the last few days, the prosecutor of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan province, visited the ward of political prisoners and called them "separatists and terrorists" and threatened them with exile to prisons in other cities. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network...

Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh has sentenced Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Askari again to death on charges of "enmity against God" (moharebeh) through "membership" in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). In 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh sentenced him to death on the same charge in absentia. The sentence was overturned after his appeal against the ruling and was referred...

Kurdish political prisoners Shaker Behrouz and Nayeb Askari, who had gone on a hunger strike in Orumiyeh Central Prison on 29 March, are still being held in solitary confinement after 14 days. The two political prisoners have been denied contact with family since the start of the hunger strike and are reported to be in poor health condition. On 29 March, Behrouz was summoned to the...

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...