In recent days, there have been reports of the possible execution of Arsalan Khodkam at Orumiyeh Central Prison. In a short video addressed to the public and international Human Rights Organisations, the mother of the Kurdish political prisoner also called for pressure to stop the execution of her son.
“All the family’s efforts to appoint an elected lawyer have been ineffective over the past few years. The Orumiyeh Military Court has also informed Arsalan’s family that the Intelligence Unit of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is exerting pressure to carry out the death sentence. “, Mansour Sohrabi, an environmental researcher and cousin of the political prisoner told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN)
Arsalan Khodkam, 47 years old from Mahabad, had been a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-I) for several years in the 90s but he later returned to Iran after obtaining immunity from the government and joined the IRGC upon his return to Mahabad 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 at the Detention Center of IRGC Intelligence unit in Orumiyeh.
Intelligence forces arrested Arsalan’s wife, Nashmil Ghoytasi to put pressure on Arsalan and force him to confess. This political prisoner has finally been forced to accept the allegations made by the IRGC about the connection and espionage for the KDP under all psychological pressure and torture.
Arsalan Khodkam’s trial was held on July 14, 2016, at Branch 1 of the Orumiyeh Military Court without the right to a lawyer, and he was sentenced to death on the same day on charges of “Moharebeh” and “spying for the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.”
Following the political prisoner’s protest against the the ruling, the case was referred to Branch 32 of the Supreme Court for reconsideration but it was upheld on September 17 2016.
