Oshnavieh; Five Kurdish citizens were sentenced to 20 years and 6 months in prison

00:16 - 29 March 2022

 Five Kurdish citizens named "Kamal Ghovitasi", "Rahman Yousefi", "Mohammad Khalid Hamzehpour", "Aziz Qadertaj" and "Salim Sharifi" from Oshnavieh were sentenced by the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court of this city, headed by Judge Rezaei, to 20 years and 6 months.

 According to the verdict, which was announced to the five citizens on Sunday, March 27th, Kamal Ghovitasi was sentenced to five years in prison, Rahman Yousefi to five years in prison, Mohammad Khalid Hamzehpour to five years in prison, Aziz Qadertaj to three years in prison and Salim Sharifi to two years and six months in prison.

 The trial of the five citizens took place last year in the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Oshnovieh, and the court accused them of "membership and cooperation with one of the Kurdish opposition parties of the Iranian government."

 on Sunday, February 28, 2021, Kamal Ghovitasi from Cheshmeh Gol village and Rahman Yousefi from Sojeh village were temporarily released from Oshnovieh prison on bail until the end of the trial.

 Kamal Ghovitasi was transferred from one of the security detention centers in Urmia to Oshnavieh Prison on Thursday, February 25th and early March of that year, Rahman Yousefi was transferred  from Urmia to Oshnavieh prison after completing their interrogation.

 The two Kurdish citizens were arrested by security forces on Monday, December 14, 2020, without any court order, and then transferred to a security detention center in Urmia for questioning.

 On Thursday, March 4, 2021, Salim Sharifi and Aziz Qadertaj from Oshnavieh were released on bail until the end of the trial.

 The two citizens were transferred from one of the security detention centers in Urmia to Oshnavieh Prison on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, after completing their interrogation.

 On the morning of Monday, February 1, 2021, Salim Sharifi, a resident of the village of "Kurosh Abad" in Oshnavieh, was arrested by security forces without any court order.

 Also on Sunday, January 31, 2021, security forces raided and arrested Qader Taj's private home without issuing any court order.

 Aziz Qadertaj is an elementary school teacher in the village of "Narziveh" in the city of Oshnavieh.

 On Thursday, December 24, 2020, Mohammad Khalid Hamzehpour, from the village of Khanlar in district of Oshnavieh, was temporarily released on bail from a security detention center in Urmia.

 On the evening of Monday, December 14, 2020, security forces arrested the citizen without any court order.

 These five citizens were denied "access to a lawyer" and "family visits" during their detention.

 Photo: Aziz Qadertaj, Salim Sharifi, Mohammad Khalid Hamzehpour, Kamal Ghovitasi and Rahman Yousefi