The KMMK-G’ s condemns unfair and unlawful sentencing of Saman Yasin to “moharebeh” and calls on the United Nations to take urgent action to stop his execution

To the Honorable Dr. Javaid Rehman the UN Special Rapporteur for Iran,

To the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,

We are writing to raise our deep concerns about the fate of Saman Yasin a young Kurdish Yarasani rapper, aged 27, from Kermanshah (Kermashan in Kurdish), who was arrested on 2nd of October 2022 in Tehran in relations to nationwide protests.

On 29th October 2022, Saman Yasin has been charged with “moharebeh” or "war against God," in a hazily-defined offenses which carry the death penalty by the judge Salavati in Tehran Revolutionary Court.

In a video released of the tribunal by Iranian national tv, the infamous judge Salavati who has already sentenced over 300 Kurdish prisoners to the death penalty in the past decade, has accused Saman Yasin of “detaining a pistol during a protest” and “gathering to commit crimes against national security of the state”. Saman Yasin refused all these accusations.

Saman Yasin is a socio-political critical singer and in his songs and paroles, he criticizes the regimes repression. We strongly believe that his arrest and sentencing to “moharebeh” is related to his songs and to his ethno-religious backgrounds, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHu3N1Q9CJ8 ).

Since the beginning of the protests in 16th September 2022, dozens of Kurdish singers including Mr. Hossein Safamanesh and Aziz Waissi were detained for their public support and songs and video clips for the protestors.

We call on the UNSR for Iran, the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other Independent Experts and Stakeholders to condemn the unlawful detention of Saman Yasin and to urge Iranian authorities to release Saman Yasin and hundreds other protestors in prisons.

Geneva, 9th November 2022

Kurdistan Human Rights Association - Geneva (KMMK-G)