Kurdish environmental activist Erfan Rashidi from Paveh area has been sentenced to one year in prison and issued a two-year travel ban on charges of “propaganda against the state”, local sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

Rashidi is a member of Jiwa environmentalist organisation in Paveh.

Judge Tari Verdi of Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Paveh had handed down the sentences earlier this month, sources said.

Sources aware of the case said Rashidi not admit to the charges brought against him during interrogation and at his trial.

On 5 July 2018, security forces raided his home before inspecting and confiscating his personal belongings.

He was then taken to Kermanshah Intelligence Bureau from where he was released after eight days of interrogation on a bail of 50 million Iranian tomans.

Rashidi has played “an important role” in controlling forest fires in the Hawraman area over the past few years along with other environmental activists, sources told KHRN.

He had worked as a volunteer for several months at displacement camps helping earthquake victims in Sare-Pol Zahab and its surrounding.