Ilam Central Prison: Three Kurdish political prisoners exiled to prisons in Zahedan, Kerman, and Mashhad

Hengaw: Monday, May 5, 2025

Three Kurdish political prisoners — Naser Rezaei, Vahid Chavaran, and Mohammad-Hassan Haseli — formerly held in Ilam Central Prison, have been exiled to prisons in Kerman, Zahedan, and Vakilabad (Mashhad), respectively. All three were arrested during the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement and were later sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Sunday, May 4, 2025, Naser Rezaei and Vahid Chavaran — both civil activists from Abdanan, with Chavaran also being a mountaineer and paragliding instructor — and Mohammad-Hassan Haseli, from Sarab Bagh (a district of Abdanan), were transferred to the aforementioned prisons.

The three Kurdish prisoners had previously launched a collective hunger strike on September 4, 2023, in protest of physical and psychological abuse in detention.

On January 8, 2024, Branch 1 of the Ilam Revolutionary Court sentenced Rezaei, Chavaran, and Haseli each to 12 years in prison and exile on similar charges, including “enmity against the state (moharebeh)” and “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Mohammad-Hassan Haseli was arrested on July 26, 2023, during a raid by Iranian security forces.

Vahid Chavaran was forcibly arrested on June 23, 2023, by government agents using excessive force.

Naser Rezaei was arrested on August 13, 2023, after being summoned to Dehloran Court. He had previously been arrested on May 22, 2023, and was later released on bail.