A Kurdish political prisoner's revealing letter after a quarter of a century in prison

A political prisoner in Urmia Prison says that security agencies have pressured his family members to pursue the case. Mohammad Nazari, who has been in prison for 25 years, said that his release was conditional on giving an interview.

Mohammad Nazari was arrested in August 1994 in the city of Bukan on charges of collaborating with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran and was initially sentenced to death in court and then to life imprisonment with a reduced sentence.

This political prisoner wrote in an open letter, the text of which was published on the Kurdistan Human Rights Network website on October 25, that he has not taken a single day off in the past 25 years.

He says that since his previous letters to the Ministry of Intelligence and other responsible institutions have gone unanswered, he intends to publish his latest letter openly "so that everyone knows what has happened to my family in addition to me during this time."

In part of his letter, Nazari wrote: "My family has been diligently following my case all these years. In 2011, when my mother approached all organs, organizations, and even the Supreme Leader's Office to pursue pardon and commutation of my sentence, she received only one answer: Never follow up on your son's case and go pray that he was not executed! My mother ultimately suffered a stroke and died under pressure and harassment from some institutions."

Amnesty in Mahabad, opposition in Rajai Shahr Prison

According to this political prisoner, the Attorney General ordered a re-examination of his case in 2012, and although the Mahabad court had agreed to his pardon and release, the Tehran Amnesty Commission opposed this action due to the intervention of a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.

He says: "My brother, who had been pursuing my release in 2016, was threatened by some security agencies, and eventually his body was found on one of the roads, apparently having suffered a stroke."

Mohammad Nazari went on a hunger strike about seven years ago, demanding a retrial and release from prison. At the time, he said in a leaked interview with a fellow prisoner that his confessions were extracted under torture and that the trial that sentenced him to death lasted no more than 20 minutes.

In his open letter, Nazari wrote: "I repeatedly requested a lawyer. A number of lawyers, despite accepting my representation in the early stages, withdrew for unknown reasons. Although in 2017, Mr. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi accepted my representation without any expectations and had high hopes for my release, despite all the efforts they made, they were unable to achieve anything."

90-day hunger strike

On July 8, he announced his 90-day hunger strike in a letter to the head of the judiciary, writing that he had fallen ill as a result of the strike, but prison officials had refused to provide him with treatment.

Attorney Mohammad Hossein Aghasi expressed concern about Tazari's health in a Twitter message.

The final part of Mohammad Nazari's letter states: "In 2017, intelligence agents announced an interview as a condition for my release, which I opposed. They replied that in that case they could not do anything for my release. Although today the intelligence agents acknowledge the injustice of my sentence, why they continue to oppose my release is a question that only the Director General of Intelligence of West Azerbaijan Province can answer."

One of the charges against this political prisoner was involvement in a plot to assassinate four intelligence agents, although Nazari says he neither knew them nor was aware of the plot.

Mohammad Nazari's letter from Urmia Prison: Is it right to pressure my family like this after 25 years?

Source: DW