Details of the arrest of a civil activist in Kurdistan on the pretext of a terrorist act
In recent days, several civil society and environmental activists have been arrested in the city of Sanandaj. While there is uncertainty about their charges and detention, a security official claimed that they were involved in an assassination.
Among those arrested is Farhad Mohammadi, a lawyer, who was arrested on January 2 after being summoned to the Sanandaj City Intelligence Department's press headquarters and transferred to the security agency's detention center.
A source close to Farhad Mohammadi's family told Voice of America on Wednesday, January 9, that Farhad Mohammadi was arrested by security agents after being summoned to the Sanandaj City Intelligence Department's press headquarters to answer a number of questions.
This informed person told VOA that after arresting Mr. Mohammadi, a group of security officers searched his workplace and home, confiscating his personal belongings, including a computer, a cell phone, and a number of books, and taking them away.
Reports indicate that Farhad Mohammadi, along with a number of members of the National Unity Party's Kurdistan branch and environmental activists named Amanj Ghorbani, Fazel Gheitasi, Reza Asadi, Hadi Kamangar, Isa Faizi, Rashed Montazeri, Hossein Kamangar, Bakhtiar Kamangar, and Heshmat Yavari, have been arrested by security agents in recent days.
Previously, the deputy for political, security, and law enforcement of the Kurdistan Governorate accused these individuals of somehow having a role in the murder of an ambulance driver in July of this year, and said that these environmental activists were arrested in the continuation of the investigation to identify the killers of the ambulance driver.
The source told VOA that Farhad Mohammadi has not been allowed to visit or contact his family until now. His family was unaware of the charges, and judicial officials have not held the lawyers they introduced to the Sanandaj prosecutor's office accountable, and they have not been allowed to review the case.
The arrest of these environmental activists in Kurdistan and the filing of security charges against them comes at a time when eight environmental activists were arrested last winter on charges of espionage by the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
After months of detention, the judiciary charged these activists with "corruption on earth." The arrest of these environmental activists was met with widespread reaction both inside and outside the country, with many experts and activists calling for their release.
Source: Voice of America
