Two Kurdish political prisoners Yusef Kake Mami and Aliraza Rasouli have served their jail sentences in Iran but they have remained in jail facing new charges.
Yusef Kake Mami served nine years in prison and Aliraza Rasouli served 42 months in jail but the Iranian authorities have refused them the right to be released and brought new charges against them.
“Yusef Kake Mami, a Kurdish political activist arrested on 24 October 2007 near the city of Bokan, was sentenced to nine years on charges of cooperation with PJAK [Free Life Party of Kurdistan]. The section of Enforcement of Judgments of Orumiyeh Central Prison announced that he would be freed on 12 August 2016, but on January 2016 he was sentenced to five more years in prison on charges of having contacted UN Special Rapporteur. He appealed the court decision at the Court of Appeal but no decision has since been made and has remained in prison,” a reliable source said in an interview with the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Regarding the other prisoner, Aliraza Rasouli, the KHRN source said:“ Raosuli was also a Kurdish political activist and he was arrested following a peaceful gathering that had been organized in support of Shinawa students on 23 February 2013. He was sentenced to 42 months on accusations of actions against national security. While imprisoned, he participated in a 33-day hunger strike with political prisoners on death row for which he was transferred to solidarity confinement. Back in August this year he was once again sentenced to 3 years in jail. His lawyer appealed against the sentence but the fate of his case has not been yet been determined.”
The source added that “Rasouli spent his 42 months prison sentence but he is still being held in prison, although he is ill and needs medical treatment. However, the [Iranian] authorities have denied his right to leave the prison. “
Aliraza Rasouli sent a statement regarding his sufferings and illnesses at the prison saying: he said: “My illness is very severe and it is perhaps incurable because the preliminary medical examinations have shown that I have a tumor in my left knee and my right side has been severely damaged. Doctors said that there is a possibility of bone blackening. I also suffer from osteoporosis and severe arthritis. I also have a kidney illness because of the time spent on hunger strike [at the prison]. I vomited blood several times and I have a blood in my urine.”
