Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that seven Kurdish political prisoners, held at the Youth Ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison, Siamak Ashrafi, Reza Esmaili, Keyvan Rashozadeh, Keyvan Zarei, Omid Saeedi, Kamran Qasemi and Kamran Darwishi have gone on hunger strike since February 22.

They have reportedly gone on hunger strike in protest to the refusal of authorities to fulfil their demand for allocating a separate cell to political prisoners. Despite promises by prison authorities to transfer them to a separate cell, no action has been taken in this regard so far and the 7 Kurdish political prisoners have been on hunger strike since then.

Siamak Ashrafi and Kamran Darvishi were transferred to the Youth Ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison on February 27, on the pretext of being released from Prison in the following months.

Ashrafi has been on hunger strike since January 21, in protest to the refusal of authorities to grant him a conditional release and his disrespectful treatment by the personnel at Branch 9 of Enforcement Office of Orumiyeh Court. He started his dry Hunger Strike on February 15.

Siamak Ashrafi from Orumiyeh was arrested by security forces on June 12, 2016, and sentenced to five years of imprisonment charged with “membership in one of the opposing groups” by the branch 2 of the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court. He was sentenced to another 8 months in prison on charges of “fleeing from military service”. He was on a hunger strike for a week in December 2017 in protest to not being transferred to the political prisoners’ ward.

Kamran Darwishi, a Kurdish civilian from Orumiyeh, was arrested by security forces in Orumiyeh on May 2, 2016. He was interrogated for two months at the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Centre in Orumiyeh. In November, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Orumiyeh, chaired by Judge Sheikhlo, on charges of cooperating with one of the Kurdish opposition parties.

Her was arrested on charges of membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and sentenced to five years in prison in 2011. However, he was granted conditional release after spending 3 years in prison.

Keyvan Zarei and Reza Ismaili were both detained on October 11, at a mass rally in Orumiyeh in protest to the Turkish army’s attack on north of Syria (Rojava). They were sentenced to one year in prison and transferred to the Orumiyeh Central Prison shortly after being convicted by the branch 1 of the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Agbek on charges of “propaganda against the state”.

Kamran Qasemi, Keyvan Rashozadeh and Omid Saeedi, three civilians of Orumiyeh, were arrested by security forces about 5 months ago and then transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Centre in Orumiyeh. After several weeks of interrogation, they were transferred to the Youth Ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison.