Kurdish journalist and activist Zhina Modares-Gorji arrested to serve prison sentence
Hengaw; Saturday, November 2, 2024
Zhina Modares-Gorji, a Kurdish journalist and women’s rights activist, was arrested at the Sanandaj Enforcement of Sentences office to begin serving a 16-month prison sentence.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Saturday, November 2, 2024, Zhina Modares-Gorji was summoned to the Sanandaj enforcement of sentences office. She was arrested upon her arrival and taken to the city's central prison.
Originally sentenced to 21 years, Modares- Gorji had her sentence recently reduced to 28 months, of which 16 months are enforceable. Given her previous four-month detention, she is now required to serve one year in prison.
The Sanandaj Appeals Court recently sentenced Modares-Gorji to 16 months for “forming an illegal group with the intent to overthrow the state” and an additional year for “propaganda against the state.” She was acquitted of the charge of “collaborating with hostile groups and governments,” and her sentence of exile to Hamedan Central Prison was also overturned.
Her defense was handled by attorneys Saleh Nikbakht and Taher (Shorsh) Touhidi. Previously, the First Branch of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Karami, had imposed a harsher sentence of 10 years for “forming an illegal group with the intent to overthrow the state,” 10 years for “collaboration with hostile groups and governments,” one year for “propaganda against the state,” and exile to Alvand Prison in Hamedan. Following an appeal, the sentence was modified by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court.
The final hearing in this case was held on April 9, 2024, and the verdict was issued on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
Hengaw previously reported that the charges against Modares-Gorji included “founding the Jîwano Association with a feminist ideology aimed at overthrowing the state,” “participating in protests and making subversive statements,” “contacting anti-state elements,” “attending international conferences and workshops,” and “publishing materials on social media and giving interviews to foreign media with the intent of portraying the country negatively and inciting social unrest following Mahsa Amini’s death.”
In addition, the Revolutionary Court transferred the charge of “spreading false information and inciting the public to violence” to the Criminal Court, referring it to Sanandaj’s Criminal Court 2.
On May 9, 2023, after a month in solitary confinement at the Sanandaj Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, Modares-Gorji was transferred to the general ward. She had been arrested by agents from the Intelligence Department on April 10, 2023, while returning home from work. After 84 days in detention, she was temporarily released on July 3 on a substantial bail of 5 billion tomans.
Previously, on September 21, 2022, Modares-Gorji had been detained during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement by forces from Intelligence department in Sanandaj. She was held in the women’s ward of Sanandaj Prison for 40 days before being temporarily released on October 30, 2022, after posting a bail of 100 million tomans, pending further legal proceedings.
