ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two Kurdish citizens of Iran were sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison by a court on charges of acting against national security, human rights organizations report.
Jalal Namdari and Saeed Khaledi were arrested in Kermanshah between late last year and the early months of 2021, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), an NGO that monitors human rights violations across Iran.
Namdari “was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of acting against national security by cooperating with an opposition party, and to three years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime by participating and encouraging people to participate in the November 2019 protests,” HRANA reported.
Protests first broke out in 2019 over the government's decision to triple the price of fuel in a country already struggling under an economic crisis and US sanctions.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman said at least 200,000 people joined protests in 29 of Iran's 31 provinces, though other estimates put the number much higher.
The majority of the protesters were peaceful, but they were met with a “violent response,” said Rehman.
“In addition, Mr. Khaledi was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of acting against national security through membership in an opposition party, and to one year in prison on charges of propaganda against the regime,” added the human rights organization.
“After the initial verdict, I took charge of the case, and although I have not yet been able to meet and talk with my client, I intend to appeal the ruling,” Namdari’s lawyer has told Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
“According to this lawyer, both defendants have admitted the charges against them during interrogations and trials and have confessed to cooperating with people abroad in exchange for money,” KHRN wrote on Monday.
KHRN added that Namdari was reportedly accused of collaborating with the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran, a controversial exiled opposition group.
Ethnic minority groups in Iran are disproportionately detained and more harshly sentenced for acts of political dissidence.
According to monthly reports by KHRN, at least 49 Kurds were arrested and sentenced to between three months to 15 years in prison in the months of January, February and March only.
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