A Kurdish political prisoner held at Ardebil Central Prison was released from prison following the end of his ten-year imprisonment sentence, a reliable source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

“Omar (Shawkat) Farhang from Orumiyeh had been deprived of access to medical care during his prison term despite suffering from a variety of illnesses including gland under the neck on the throat, haemorrhoids, and skin diseases who had gone on hunger strike in protest to his difficult prison situation many times during his imprisonment,” the source added. 

According to the source, he was arrested by the Orumiyeh Intelligence Service on June 12, 2009 and was under “physical and psychological torture” at the detention centre for three months.

 “The severity of the torture and insults during these three months was so horrible to an extent I was longing for death every day. I had not even committed a crime, I was simply accused of contacting those whom the Ministry of Intelligence called anti-regime agents,” Omar (Shawkat) Farhang wrote in one of his letters from prison about his situation when being detained.

“These people were at my home as guests and I was not aware of their opposition to the regime’s policies.”

He was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison after completion of interrogations. He Farhang was finally served 10 years of imprisonment and exile to Ardebil Central Prison by Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court on charges of “membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK)