The Supreme Court equally approved the death sentence for Arsalan Khodkam, a prisoner detained at Orumiyeh Central Prison, who had previously been sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Orumieh Military Court on charges of Moharebeh and espionage for one of the Kurdish opposition parties against the regime.
In this regard, an informed source has told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that Arsalan Khodkam had previously been a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran but later returned to Iran after obtaining immunity from the government and joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 2002. On Apr 22, 2018, he was arrested on charges of spying for the Kurdish Democratic Party at the Ramadan Base (no. 18) and interrogated for 36 days.
The source further stated that this prisoner’s case was transferred to Branch 32 of the Orumiyeh Public Prosecutor’s Office upon completion of the interrogations before it was sent to Branch 1 of the Orumiyeh Military Court to issue a ruling.
The source quoted the trial of Arsalan Khodkam was held on July 14, 2018 at Branch 1 of the Orumiyeh Military Court without the right to have a lawyer and he was sentenced to death on charges of Moharebeh and spying for the Democratic Party of Iran’s Kurdistan on the same day.
According to the source, this political prisoner contested the verdict and his case was referred to branch 32 of the Supreme Court for review, but the verdict was unanimously approved on Sept 17, 2018. During this period, he was first transferred to the Military Ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison, but he was later transferred to ward 3-4 of this prison following a conflict with several other prisoners. He has been transferred to section 12 of the political prisoners at Orumiyeh Prison a few days ago.
It is worth mentioning that Arsalan Khodkam, (52 years old, married from Mahabad) had been a member of the Democratic Party of Iran’s Kurdistan for several years in the 90s but he later joined the IRGC upon the returning to Mahabad in 2002.
