Baneh – Former Political Prisoner on Death Row, Saman Karimi, Temporarily Released on Bail of 5 Billion Tomans

On Saturday, August 9, 2025, Saman Karimi, a former political prisoner previously sentenced to death, was temporarily released from Baneh Prison after posting bail of 5 billion tomans.

Earlier in early July 2025, following the completion of his interrogation, Karimi had been transferred from a security detention center in Baneh to the city’s prison, while his wife was transferred to Saqqez Prison.

On Sunday, July 27, 2025, Farzaneh Rashidi was also temporarily released on bail of 1.5 billion tomans.

On Sunday, May 25, 2025, Karimi and his wife, Farzaneh Rashidi, were violently and arbitrarily arrested by security forces. Without presenting a judicial warrant, the agents apprehended Karimi on a street in Baneh, then raided his family home, arresting Rashidi, a student at Payam Noor University in Baneh.

Security forces also confiscated some of the couple’s personal belongings.

As of this report, no information is available on the reasons for the couple’s arrest or the charges against them.

Background on the previous case of Saman Karimi, political prisoner sentenced to death:

As previously reported in detail by Kurdpa, on November 8, 2018, Karimi was arrested by IRGC intelligence forces in Soleiman Beg Hill, Baneh, and transferred for interrogation to the Shahramfar Security Detention Center in Sanandaj. After three months of detention and interrogation there, he was moved to Sanandaj Central Prison, where he was denied access to a lawyer and visits from his family.

On November 12, 2019, Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Saeedi, tried Karimi on charges of baghi (armed rebellion) through membership and cooperation with a Kurdish opposition party to the Iranian government. On December 4, 2019, he was formally informed of his death sentence and 11 years in prison.

On December 31, 2019, his case was referred to the Supreme Court, and on procedural grounds, Branch 27 of the Supreme Court in Qom overturned the death sentence, returning the case to the original court for retrial.

Following the retrial order, on March 4, 2021, Karimi was temporarily released from Sanandaj Prison on bail of 1.5 billion tomans until the completion of legal proceedings.

In July 2021, Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Court of Appeals sentenced Karimi to four years in prison for “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” four years in prison for “membership in a Kurdish opposition party,” and one year in prison for “propaganda against the state.” On Saturday, July 17, 2021, this ruling was formally communicated to him.

Under Article 134 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, the heaviest sentence — four years in prison — was enforceable. Due to his previous incarceration from arrest to temporary release, this period was counted toward his sentence.