Two Kurdish Labor Activists Sentenced to Total of Two Years in Prison
“Iqbal Shebani” and “Tofiq Mohammadi,” two Kurdish labor activists, have been sentenced by the First Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj to one year of suspended imprisonment for three years and one year of imprisonment, respectively.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Monday, May 13, that the court hearing for Iqbal Shebani’s case, charged with “collaboration with opposition parties,” was held on April 4 in the First Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, presided over by Judge Saidi, and on Saturday, May 11, a sentence of one year in prison, suspended for three years, was issued to Mr. Shebani.
Iqbal Shebani, inspector of the Sanandaj Bakers Workers’ Syndicate, was arrested on February 19 by security forces in the city of Sanandaj and was released after 25 days by posting a bail of one hundred million tomans.
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the court hearing for Tofiq Mohammadi was also held on Saturday, May 11, on the charge of “collaboration with opposition parties” by the First Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, and this labor activist was sentenced to one year in prison.
Tofiq Mohammadi was arrested on March 9, 2019, by security forces at his workplace in the city of Sanandaj and was released on Saturday, May 11, after the court hearing and after two months of detention by posting a bail of one hundred million tomans from Sanandaj Prison.
In February of last year, Amnesty International described 2018 as a “shameful year” for the Islamic Republic and stated that in that year more than seven thousand people, including protest participants, students, journalists, women’s rights activists, environmental activists, labor activists, and ethnic minorities and religious minority rights activists, were arrested in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
