Four Kurdish activists, Ardeshir Mousavi, Arsalan Hedayati, Shahriyar Tahmasebi and Mostafa Bagheri Ashna, were each sentenced to nine months in prison by branch 4 of the Kermanshah Islamic Revolutionary Court whose verdict was served on their lawyers yesterday.
All of these individuals were arrested by the IRCG on July 5, 2018, and were released from Dizelabad Prison on bail after two months in solitary confinement.
Mustafa Ahmadian, a lawyer for the Kurdish activists told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that” In this case, there are numerous and serious charges, including membership in anti-regime groups, forming and running a population with the intention of disrupting national security, gathering and colluding with national security, and insulting the leadership. My clients were told that, fortunately, Shahrokh Moradi, the head of the Branch 2 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Kermanshah, had acquitted them of all charges. They were each sentenced to nine months in prison.”
“Although the verdict can be contested, there are two possibilities. Under Article 442 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a quarter of the 9-month imprisonment sentence would be forgiven but we could also contest the sentence. This latter option needs further consideration since it seems more advisable to resort to enforcement of Article 442 due to the previous imprisonments of these activists and the fact that the duration of the prison sentence is for less than a year. Upon the reduction of imprisonment sentence, the prisoners have a good chance of being released on parole.” the lawyer added.
