A Kurdish citizen from the Gachini village of Orumiyeh was arrested and taken to the Orumiyeh Central Prison to serve a one-year prison sentence on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda.
The Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh has initially sentenced Behzad Mahmoud Nezhad to five years in prison on charges of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iran (KDPI, also known by its Kurdish abbreviation PDKI).
However, the Iranian Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to only one year, after which he was taken to the prison immediately when the reviewed verdict had been approved.
A source spoke to Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) on the first incident that had landed Nahzad in jail.
The source said: “On 18 September 2016, the Revolutionary Guards Corps were ambushed on a road near the village of Qusarik in Beradust Rural District. The Revolutionary Guards later stopped a civilian car and opened fire on the passengers under the pretext of the presence of [outlawed armed] Kurdish party members.”
The source added that the attack resulted in the killing of Kurdish civilian Arkan Saeedi and the wounding of another civilian Behzad Mahmoud Nezhad, both of whom were local residents of the Gechini village.
The Revolutionary Guards wounded Nezhad with a shot to his back before they arrested him at the scene.
He was admitted to the Arefian Hospital, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, for 6 days, due to the critical state of his wounds.
He was later taken to the Revolutionary Guards Corps Detention Centre.
He was interrogated for around six weeks on suspicion of being a member of the Kurdish outlawed PDKI party and was taken to the Orumiyeh Central Prison on 7 November 2016.
He was temporarily released on a bail of 40 million Iranian Tomans after he had spent around three months behind bars.
His court hearing was held at the Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, headed by Judge Rouhollah Mahboubi, who sentenced him to five years in prison on charges PDKI membership.
The Appeal Court of Orumiyeh reviewed the case and he was finally acquitted from the PDKI membership charges.
The appeal court reduced the sentence to only one year in prison on anti-government propaganda charges.
Her is currently detained at the ward 10 of Orumiyeh prison
