ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurd from Mahabad in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for allegedly collaborating with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). Notably, family members of the convicted individual were previously targeted by Iranian authorities, a watchdog reported on Thursday.
Thirty-two-year-old Wahab Khediripour “was sentenced to 10 months in prison by the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court” of Mahabad, reported the Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights on Thursday, citing family members as stating that he was being jailed for allegedly "collaborating with” the KDPI.
Iran has long been locked down in a conflict with exiled Kurdish opposition groups, including the KDPI, which it designates as a terrorist organization. The groups additionally include Komala, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK).
Hengaw also noted on Thursday that Wahab Khediripour’s brother, Sohrab, was killed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 2021 for allegedly being a member of the KDPI. His cousin, Shamal Khediripour, was also one of the victims during the Jin Jiyan Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) uprising in 2022, the watchdog added.
In mid-September 2022, a Kurdish woman, Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s compulsory hijab law. Her death sparked nationwide protests in Iran - the longest protest movement the country had seen in four decades.
These demonstrations then grew into an anti-government uprising, with Iranian authorities facing international criticism for their brutal crackdown, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests.
Hengaw added on Thursday that Khediripour has been denied family visits and access to legal counsel during his detention. His sentence follows his January detention, after which he was “temporarily released from the city’s [Mahabad’s] central prison on February 19, 2025, after three weeks of detention on bail of 500 million Tomans [around $6,250 at the time] pending the completion of his trial.”
Following Khediripour’s January arrest, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups called for a general strike across shops and businesses across the country’s Kurdish-majority regions.
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