Five Kurdish Political Prisoners Face New Charges

A local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that five Kurdish political prisoners, Ahmad Tamouee, Yousef Kakeh Meimi, Jahangir Badouzadeh, Ali Ahmad Soleiman, and Mostafa Ali Ahmad, who had been transferred from the Orumiyeh Central Prison to the Inelligence Ministry’s Detention Center since 11 October, have been charged with new charges of “contacting the office of the UN Special Rapporteur, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed,” “reporting prison news to human rights organizations,” “propaganda against the regime inside prison,” and “contacting Newroz TV” by Branch One of the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court.

“These prisoners were kept in solitary confinement for two months inside the Orumiyeh Intelligence Office and interrogated on charges of reporting [human rights violations] news to human rights organizations, especially Dr. Ahmed Shaheed’s Office, propaganda against the regime inside the Orumiyeh Prison and contacting the Kurdish language television station, Newroz TV. Their interrogations were conducted beginning on October 11 through November 11, daily and sometimes after midnight. In some cases, the interrogators severely beat the prisoners in order to extract fake confessions from them and to have televised interviews with them. Beatings of these prisoners were so severe at times that Ahmad Tamouee twice lost consciousness under beatings. During the interrogations, the interrogators also threatened them with exile to other cities and raising new judicial cases against them,” the source told the Campaign.

“These prisoners were individually transferred from the Orumiyeh Intelligence Office’s Detention Center to Branch One of Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court on December 11. Ahmad Tamouee was questioned and informed of his charges of ‘contacting Dr. Ahmed Shaheed’s office,’ and ‘reporting prison news to human rights organizations and media abroad.’ The other four Kurdish prisoners, Ali Ahmad Soleiman, Mostafa Ali Ahmad, Yousef Kakeh Meimi, and Jahangir (Houshang) Badouzadeh were questioned and informed of charges of ‘propaganda against the regime in favor of PJAK Party inside Orumiyeh Prison,’ and ‘contact with the Kurdish language television station, Newroz TV.’ After these prisoners were transferred to the Intelligence Office Detention Center again, their interrogations continued and the prisoners were again beaten to provide television confessions, and they were threatened that they would be exiled to prisons in faraway locations. On December 11, Orumiyeh Intelligence Office forces transferred Ahmad Tamouee in handcuffs and footcuffs to Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj [outside Tehran]. They did not allow him to return to Orumiyeh Prison to pick up his belongings from that facility, where he had been imprisoned for more than five years. He was also beaten by the forces during the transfer. The other four prisoners were returned to the Orumiyeh Central Prison,” the source told the Campaign.

Along with several other political prisoners, the five Kurdish men had been transferred to the Intelligence Office Detention Center on several occasions during the past year, where they had been beaten and threatened with exile. In March 2011, Jahangir Badouzadeh was sentenced to an additional six months in prison after prisoners inside the Orumiyeh facility went on a hunger strike to condemn the death sentence of Kurdish political Prisoner Hossein Khezri. He was also transferred to a solitary cell for a month during which he was banned from contacting or visiting his family. Also, in May 2011 Branch One of Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court sentenced Mostafa Ali Ahmad to six additional months in prison on charges of “propaganda against the regime in prison,” and “acts of protest including prison hunger strikes.”

“Jahangir (Houshang) Badouzadeh is a Kurdish political prisoner who has been serving time inside Orumiyeh and Mahabad prisons since 2004. A Mahabad Court sentenced Badouzadeh to death on charges of ‘participating in murder,’ and ‘cooperating with Kurdish parties.’ Badouzadeh claimed that the case is a fabrication against him by the Intelligence Office and refused to accept any of the charges during his interrogations and trial. Following his appeal request and in the absence of sufficient evidence, he was acquitted of the murder charge, but was sentenced to life in prison on the charge of ‘cooperating with Kurdish parties.’ The political prisoner’s son, Bijan Badouzadeh, was killed in Mahabad in February 2006, and his other son, Mohammad Badouzadeh, a PJAK member, was killed at the Ghandil border in the summer of 2011 by the IRGC forces during a confrontation. His daughter self-immolated and died to protest her father’s death sentence. Following persecution and pressure from the Orumiyeh Intelligence Office, Badouzadeh’s wife left Mahabad for Iraqi Kurdistan. She died of laryngeal cancer in April 2011.

Yousef Kakeh Meimi and Ahmad Tamouee were arrested in the Fall of 2007, while they were riding a motorcycle together, traveling from Boukan to Mahabad. Local IRGC members and Mahabad Intelligence Offie forces pursued the two men, rammed their vehicle into the motorcycle, and began shooting at the two men, injuring Ahmad Tamouee. The two men were transferred to the IRGC Detention Center in Mahabad. The Mahabad Revolutionary Court later sentenced Ahmad Tamouee to 15 years in prison on the charge of membership in PJAK and Yousef Kakeh Meimi was sentenced to six years in prison. Yousef Kakeh Meimi had a prior three-year suspended prison sentence, which has resulted in his serving a nine-year prison term now.

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran