Human rights defender Seivan Ebrahimi released from prison
On 11 July 2024, human rights defender Seivan Ebrahimi was released from Sanandaj prison. According to a verdict issued by Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court of appeals, which was handed to the the human rights defender on 29 June 2024, he was acquitted of the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and the ten year sentence issued by Branch 1 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court in early December 2023 was overturned.
On 2 July 2024, Seivan Ebrahimi started serving an eight month prison sentence in Sanandaj prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” issued by Branch 4 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court of appeals. According to this verdict which was handed to the the human rights defender on 29 June 2024, he was acquitted of the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and the ten years sentence issued by Branch 1 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court in early December 2023 was overturned. The verdict of the Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentence on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” from one year to eight months in prison and the human rights defender who was briefly released on Saturday was rearrested and sent back to prison.
Seivan Ebrahimi is a human rights defender and was a board member of the Nozhin socio-cultural association from 2021-2023. He has been advocating for the socio-cultural rights of the Kurdish community by teaching Kurdish language and organizing cultural events.
On 11 July 2024, human rights defender Seivan Ebrahimi was released from Sanandaj prison. According to a verdict issued by Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court of appeals, which was handed to the the human rights defender on 29 June 2024, he was acquitted of the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and the ten year sentence issued by Branch 1 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court in early December 2023 was overturned. The verdict of the Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentence on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” from one year to eight months in prison and the human rights defender.
The human rights defenders’ release occurred after the application of article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, which applies the most severe single sentence in the case of multiple charges. In his case, this was eight months in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against the state”, which allowed for his release due to the Court of Appeals taking into account his previous time spent in prison.
On 30 December 2023, human rights defender Seivan Ebrahimi, husband of woman human rights defender Zahra Mohammadi, began serving another one year prison sentence and 40 lashes on the charge of “disturbing the public order” due to his participation in “woman, life, freedom” protests issued by Branch 106 of the Sanandaj Criminal Court II. Prior to his release, the additional punishment of 40 lashes was executed.
On 2 July 2024, Seivan Ebrahimi started serving an eight month prison sentence in Sanandaj prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” issued by Branch 4 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court of appeals. According to this verdict which was handed to the the human rights defender on 29 June 2024, he was acquitted of the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and the ten years sentence issued by Branch 1 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court in early December 2023 was overturned. The verdict of the Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentence on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” from one year to eight months in prison and the human rights defender who was briefly released on Saturday was rearrested and sent back to prison.
Seivan Ebrahimi is a human rights defender and was a board member of the Nozhin socio-cultural association from 2021-2023. He has been advocating for the socio-cultural rights of the Kurdish community by teaching Kurdish language and organizing cultural events.
On 2 July 2024, Seivan Ebrahimi started serving an eight month prison sentence in Sanandaj prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” issued by Branch 4 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court of Appeals. The verdict of the Court of Appeals reduced the prison sentence on the charge of “propaganda activities against state” from one year to eight months. The human rights defender was briefly released on 29 June 2024 after being acquittedof the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” based on the same verdict.
Previously, on 30 December 2023, human rights defender Seivan Ebrahimi, and husband of woman human rights defender Zahra Mohammadi, began serving another one year prison sentence and 40 lashes on the charge of “disturbing the public order” due to his participation in “woman, life, freedom” protests issued by Branch 106 of the Sanandaj Criminal Court II. The remaining of this sentence was pardoned on 17 June 2024 after the Iranian Judiciary announced an amnesty on the occasion of Eid al-Ghadir and Eyd al-Qorban pardoning prisoners, who have no more than six months prison sentences to serve. Prior to the temporary release of Seivan Ebrahimi, the complementary punishment of 40 lashes was executed.
On 3 December 2023, Branch 1 of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court had arbitrarily sentenced Seivan Ebrahimi to ten years in prison on the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against the state.” The evidence used for the latter charge were based on his advocacy concerning releasing Zahra Mohammadi.
On 3 January 2023, Seivan Ebrahimi was arrested for the first time while following up with the situation of his wife at Sanandaj Revolutionary Court. He was arrested from his house on 18 January 2023 for the second time, and subsequently released on bail after 27 days of arbitrary detention.
Similar to other members and directors of Nozhin socio-cultural association, who have chosen to communicate only in Kurdish in protest against denial of the their right to teach in their mother tongue, Seivan Ebrahimi has been targeted with prosecution and subjected to humiliation during the different stages of his arbitrary trial, leading to long prison sentences.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the acquittal of the human rights defenders Seivan Ebrahimi from the charge of “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security”. However, the organisation remains concerned about the ongoing judicial harassment of Seivan Ebrahimi and other members and directors of Nozhin including Edris Menbari, Soma Pourmohammadi, and Serveh Pourmohammadi. Front Line Defenders especially condemns the cruel use of flogging as a tool to punish legitimate human rights work in raising awareness about the legal and cultural rights that ethnic groups are entitled to exercise in the country according to article 15 of the Iranian Constitution.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Iran to:
- Immediately release human rights defenders Seivan Ebrahimi and quash the conviction against him;
- Stop judicial harassment of Seivan Ebrahimi and other members and directors of Nozhin including Edris Menbari, Soma Pourmohammadi, and Serveh Pourmohammadi;
- Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Iran are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
