Six-Year Prison Sentence of Labor Activist from Sanandaj Upheld by Appeals Court

The six-year prison sentence of Kamran Sakhtemanger, a labor activist from Sanandaj, which was previously issued by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, has been upheld by the appeals court.

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

According to this report and based on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding the consolidation of sentences, only five years of Kamran Sakhtemanger’s sentence for the charge of “cooperation with one of the Kurdish opposition parties to the Iranian government” will be enforceable.

It should be noted that it is unclear to Voice of America which Kurdish opposition party this citizen is a member of.

This labor activist was arrested on September 4 of last year by officials of the Sanandaj Intelligence Office and after 85 days was temporarily released from the Sanandaj Central Prison upon posting a 200 million Toman bail pending the completion of the investigation.

This is not the first time that a court in the Islamic Republic has issued severe sentences such as lengthy prison terms against a Kurdish citizen on charges such as membership or cooperation with one of the Kurdish opposition parties.

Voice of America had previously reported that Sirwan Ebrahimi, a civil activist and Kurdish language teacher in Kamyaran, was also sentenced to three years in prison by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court on charges of “cooperation with one of the Kurdish opposition parties to the Iranian government” and “actions against national security.”

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned violent confrontations and widespread suppression of protesters in various cases, as well as the repeated and continuous violation of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.

Source: Voice of America