The Iranian security institutions pressure the Muslim clerics in Kurdistan and issue heavy prison sentences for them following their support for the ongoing revolution
During the past six months, and since the beginning of 2023, at least 16 Kurdish Muslim clerics an
Hengaw; Sunday, June 18, 2023
During the past six months, and since the beginning of 2023, at least 16 Kurdish Muslim clerics and religious figures have been arrested in different cities of Kurdistan, and twelve cases of judicial verdicts were issued against these activists, which included more than 54 years of imprisonment and 294 lashes. Most of these cases are related to their support for the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement" and public protests.
Based on the statistics and documents of Hengaw, during the first six months of 2023, at least 16 clerics have been arrested in different cities of Kurdistan by the Iranian government. Six cases were recorded in Piranshahr, five cases in Javanroud, two cases in Rabat, and one in Sardasht, Bane, and Sanandaj.
According to these statistics, in the past six months, twelve Sunni Kurdish clerics were sentenced to more than 49 years and 4 months of imprisonment and 5 years of suspended imprisonment, and a total of 294 lashes by the Iranian Judiciary.
The names of the clerics and religious activists arrested in Piranshahr were recorded as Mohammad Jamaluddin Vaji, Sharif Mohammadpour, Yunus Nokhah, Suleiman Ahmadi, Ibrahim Salimi, and Jafar Parvini, Ibrahim Karimi, Yaser Karimi, Farouq Qaderi, Luqman Amini, and Seyed Tareq Hosseini were also arrested in Javanroud. In the same period, Farouq Ahmadi and Abdul Qader Qaderi, both from Rabat, Sahib Ahmadi, from Sanandaj, Fethullah Hosseini, from Sardasht, and Amin Qaysari from Baneh City were arrested.
In the meantime, the Hamedan Clergy Special Court issued ten prison sentences, during which Luqman Karimi, from Javanroud, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, Ibrahim Karimi, from Javanroud to 12 years in prison, and Abdul Jabbar Lotfi, from Sanandaj, to 7 months and 15 days in prison, Madeh Karami, from Sanandaj to 1 year of suspended prison, Seyed Jalal Akbari, from Sarvabad to 2 years of suspended prison, Arman Sadeghi, from Dehgolan to 7 months and 15 days in Prison, Saber Khodamoradi, from Saqqez to 7 months and 15 days in prison, Hossein Alimoradi, from Sanandaj to 2 years of suspended imprisonment, and Saifullah Hosseini, from Javanroud, was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
In addition, the special court of the Urmia clergy has sentenced Yunus Nokhah, from Piranshahr to 4 years and 6 months in prison, and Branch 4 of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court in Kermanshah has sentenced Seyed Tareq Hosseini, from Javanroud, to 2 years of suspended imprisonment. Zana Khoshaman from Piranshahr has also been sentenced to 25 months imprisonment by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad.
In this connection, many Kurdish religious activists and clerics, since the beginning of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement in September 2022, have been under pressure and have been summoned, threatened, and interrogated by the Iranian government institutions due to their support for nationwide protests.
It is worth mentioning that the Sunni clerics were tried by the Shia clerics in the special clerical court, which is basically against the Sunni religious and jurisprudential standards. In this regard, all the people tried have been deprived of the minimum defense rights in a criminal proceeding, including the right to access a lawyer, and even the right of self-defense has not been granted to them based on the religious beliefs of these clerics.
