Saman Yasin, Kurdish Rapper, Sentenced to Five Years in prison and Exile to Kerman
Hengaw; Sunday, April 21, 2024
Saman Yasin, a Kurdish singer-songwriter from Kermanshah (Kermashan), was apprehended during the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement, has been sentenced by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to five years in prison and exile to a city in Kerman province. Despite being ill, this artist has spent the last 567 days (19 months) in detention without the right to leave.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Saman Seydi, known as Saman Yasin, a Kurdish artist and detainee of the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi movement, received a verdict from Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Amoozadeh. He was sentenced to five years of penal imprisonment and exile to a city in Kerman.
The court session addressing the charges against Saman Yasin was held on April 17, 2024, and the verdict was announced to his lawyer today, Sunday, April 21.
The court sessions of this Kurdish artist from Kermanshah have been repeatedly canceled for various reasons. According to a statement by Saman Yasin’s father, Taymur Seydi, on his social media account, the trial session took place on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Previously, the artist had demanded that his court session be held publicly and had called for the participation of domestic and international lawyers and journalists. He urged them to send their attendance requests to Judge Salavati and the court authorities as soon as possible.
Saman Yasin has stated that the repeated cancellations of his court sessions and the deliberate obstruction of his transfer to the hospital are part of a deliberate process aimed at “destroying his body and mind” by security institutions.
On Wednesday, August 2, 2023, Saman Yasin was urgently transferred from Rajaishahr Prison, along with a group of political prisoners, to Ward 8 of Evin Prison, and then on September 3, from there to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
On September 20, 2023, he was expelled from Unit 3 of Ghezel Hesar Prison without permission to take his personal belongings and was transferred to a section holding prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes.
On October 29, 2022, Saman Yasin was sentenced to death by the Public and Revolutionary Court of Tehran on charges including “Moharebeh” (waging war against God). This sentence was later overturned by the Supreme Court, and his case was referred back for re-examination to a court of the same level.
Saman Seydi, known as Saman Yasin, a songwriter, composer, and rapper from Kermanshah residing in Tehran, was arrested on October 2, 2022, by security forces at his home for supporting protests. After interrogation, he was transferred to Rajaishahr Prison.
