KHRN: IRAN COURT SENTENCES KURDISH WRITER TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON

KHRN: IRAN COURT SENTENCES KURDISH WRITER TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court in Urmiye sentenced Kurdish writer and student Elî Bedrxanî to three years in prison on 29 March, local sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

He was first arrested two years ago at his sister’s home on Christmas Day on 25 December 2014, after which officers of the ministry of intelligence interrogated him and accused him of “acting against national security”.

He was severely tortured in order to force him make false confession before he was sent to the Urmiye Central Prison and later released on bail.

A KHRN source said: “Bedrxanî was in prison for for two months before he was later released on bail.The Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court later sentenced him to five years in prison. He obviously protested the verdict and it was reduced to three years after his case was reconsidered by Branch1 of the same court.”

The source added: “Since Bedrxanî believed all the accusations are false, he protested against the reconsideration too. The case was sent to the Supreme Court, which annulled the first verdict and forwarded the case to Branch 1 of the court. The trial was held in March 2017, and Bedrxanî was finally sentenced to three years behind bars.”

The source added: “In an unlawful process, the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court abused the Newroz holidays to ban protests against the verdict. He was sent to Urmiye Central Prison and he has since been jailed at section 3 and 4 of the prison.”

Bedrxanî, who is also known as Şiwan, is a Kurdish writer from the well-known Bedrxan family from Başûr (Southern Kurdistan Region). His family immigrated to Iran thirty years ago. He is dual national, so he has both Iranian and Iraqi citizenships.

Some of of his well-known books include, “Turkey, Democracy, and the Kurds,” as well as “Dialogue of Thoughts” and “ Love the Refugee, Kurdish Stories and Legends”.

He was a student when detained and he has now been deprived of continuing his studies.

Source: Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN)