Mamosta Barzan Maleki sentenced to one year in prison and permanent removal from clerical office

Hengaw – Saturday, June 28, 2025

Mamosta Barzan Maleki, the prayer leader and a teacher at the Sheikhin Grand Mosque in Sanandaj (Sine), has been sentenced by the Special Clerical Court in Hamedan to one year in prison. He has also been permanently stripped of his clerical status and banned for life from delivering sermons.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Saturday, June 28, 2025, Mamosta Maleki, a Kurdish cleric, was convicted by the Hamedan Special Clerical Court on charges of “propaganda against the state.” The verdict was delivered to him via a phone call. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered his permanent removal from the clergy and imposed a lifelong prohibition on sermon delivery as part of the punishment.

Maleki had previously been arrested on Monday, May 26, 2025, after appearing before the same court.

A day earlier, on Sunday, May 25, he had been summoned to the Intelligence Office in Sanandaj, where he was interrogated for several hours before being released.

Earlier this year, on Monday, January 29, 2025, while en route—under official invitation—to the Maki Mosque in Zahedan, Maleki was detained by security forces near Dehgolan, roughly 20 kilometers from Sanandaj. He was forcibly returned along with his students.