MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : THIS WEEK IRAN / KURDISTAN (REPORT)

Iran

• After his detention in December of 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced the Kurdish activist Behnam Ibrahim Zada to 18 months in prison. Prior to his recent arrest, Zada spent five years in prison for his work on labor rights. Zada was charged for “activities against the national security” by the Iranian regime. In Urmia, the Islamic court sentenced another Kurdish activist Majeed Tibash to five years in prison for “connection with Kurdish opposition parties.” On Thursday, in Sanandaj, the Islamic court sentenced a Kurdish teacher, who is a civil activist, to one year in prison on charges of “posing threats to the national security.”  Additional arrests by the Iranian intelligence office (Etellaa’t) last week include: a Kurdish activist, Poria Ahmadi, in Sanandaj; a Kurdish man, Farzad Husseini, in Kamyaran; and in Marivan city, a Kurdish man, Ayrej Rahimzada after raiding his house. According to the human rights group active in Iranian Kurdistan, the regime has arrested 63 Kurdish activists since the beginning of 2019.
• On Wednesday a Kurdish border porter, known as Kolbars, was wounded by direct shots from the Iranian border guards near Baneh. On Sunday, the Iranian security forces arrested six people in the Hawraman region near Pawa city, who are believed to be a group of Kolbars. The detainees were transferred to a jail in Nodasha town. On Sunday, the Iranian border guards blew up a bridge inside Iraqi Kurdistan near Pishdar that was used by the Kolbars to cross into the region.  More via www.mesop.de