Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Prison guards and security officers raided the political and religious prisoners’ ward in Orumiyeh Central Prison today, destroying prisoners’ belongings and beating Kurdish political prisoners Keyvan Rashozadeh and Kamran Ghassemi. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that that around 10 guards and prison officials took part in the raid, which was ordered by the prison director, Peyman Khanzadeh, citing the presence of mobile...

Kurdish prisoners of conscience Arash Gholizadeh and Ardavan Tahourian, who have separately gone on hunger strike in Orumiyeh Central Prison, in West Azerbaijan Province, are demanding access to medical treatment and the right to temporary leave. Gholizadeh, a Kurdish religious prisoner from Orumiyeh, who is in the third year of a 10-year sentence, began his hunger strike on 15 March, in protest at being denied...

Hassan Omarpour, a Kurdish prisoner serving a 10-year sentence in Orumiyeh Central Prison, began a hunger strike on 14 April to demand a retrial and to protest insults against his family by the prosecutor of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Omarpour was transferred to solitary confinement on 15 April following the start of his hunger strike and...

The authorities in Orumiyeh Central Prison have recently increased pressure and torture on prisoners after more than 800 prisoners signed an open letter calling for the removal of Peyman Khanzadeh, the head of the prison. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learnt that on 3 March, Akbar Maheri, the head of Section 1-2, and several prison guards severely beat two prisoners, Towhid Ghaznavi and...

Prison guards raided the political and religious prisoners' ward in Orumiyeh Central Prison on 28 February, destroying prisoners' belongings and beating some of them. The raid comes after Kurdish political prisoner Shahin Gallehdar committed suicide and more than 800 prisoners signed an open letter calling for the removal of Peyman Khanzadeh, the head of the prison, due to the increasing number of suicides in the...