File-Making in Prison; Hamzeh Darwish Convicted to Imprisonment

Hrana News Agency – Hamzeh Darwish, a Sunni Muslim prisoner in Lakan Prison in Rasht, has been sentenced to 2 years and 1 month of punitive imprisonment by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht for a new case recently opened against him.

According to Hrana News Agency, the news organ of the Human Rights Activists group in Iran, Hamzeh Darwish, a Sunni Muslim prisoner in Lakan Prison in Rasht, has been convicted of imprisonment for a new case recently opened against him.

According to this ruling issued by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Rasht on 14 Esfand and notified to him on Wednesday, 18 Esfand, Mr. Darwish has been sentenced to 18 months and one day of imprisonment for charges of insulting the leader and founder of the Islamic Republic, and to 7 months and 16 days of punitive imprisonment for charges of propaganda against the system.

On 14 Bahman, his interrogation hearing was held online in Branch 16 of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Rasht, and charges were explained to him. This case was opened following a complaint by the Ministry of Intelligence based on the distribution of an audio file by Mr. Darwish in cyberspace in which he spoke about his conditions of detention in prison.

Hamzeh Darwish, a 28-year-old prisoner from Talesh, had previously stated that in 2014 members of a fundamentalist group based in Syria deceived and took him to Turkey and then transferred him to Syria. He spent some time in ISIS prison and then escaped to Iran after receiving a safe conduct letter from the Iranian embassy in Turkey, introducing himself to security forces.