Sanandaj Court of Appeals upholds 6-year prison sentence for labor activist

The six-year prison sentence of Kamran Sahneghgar, a labor activist from Sanandaj, which was previously issued by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners announced in a report on Tuesday, April 9, that the six-year prison sentence of this labor activist from Sanandaj, which was issued in mid-December last year by the First Branch of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court on charges of "collaborating with one of the Kurdish opposition parties of the Iranian government" and "propaganda against the system," has been confirmed by the Kurdistan Provincial Court of Appeal and notified to him.

According to this report, and based on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, which allows for the aggregation of sentences, only 5 years of Kamran Sahneghgar's sentence will be applicable for the charge of "collaborating with one of the Kurdish opposition parties of the Iranian government."

It should be noted that it is not clear to Voice of America which Kurdish party this Kurdish citizen is a member of that opposes the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This labor activist was arrested on September 4, 2018, by agents of the Sanandaj Intelligence Department and was temporarily released from Sanandaj Central Prison after 85 days on bail of 200 million Tomans pending the completion of the inspection process.

This is not the first time that a court in the Islamic Republic has issued severe sentences, such as long prison terms, to a Kurdish citizen for charges such as membership in or collaboration with a Kurdish opposition party.

Voice of America had previously reported that Sirvan Ebrahimi, a civil activist and Kurdish language teacher in Kamyaran, had also been sentenced to three years in prison by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court on charges of "collaborating with one of the Kurdish opposition parties of the Iranian government" and "acting against national security."

The US State Department has repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.

Source: Voice of America