Arsalan Hedayati, a Kurdish civil activist, introduced himself to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah (western Iran) to serve a 4-month prison sentence.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Arsalan Hedayati, a Kurdish civil activist from Qorveh, a city in Kurdistan Province, who had been sentenced by Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court, presided over by Shahrokh Moradi, to 9 months in prison on charges of “propaganda activities against the regime” and this verdict was commuted to 4 months imprisonment in the Kurdistan Court of Appeals, introduced himself to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah on Sunday, September 20, 2020, to serve his sentence.
Arsalan Hedayati, along with three Kurdish civil activists, named Ardeshir Mousavi, Shahriar Tahmasebi, and Mostafa Begheri-Ashena, were arrested on Thursday, July 5, 2018, in a coordinated action by the IRGC intelligence agents, and after being held in solitary confinement in the Kurdistan IRGC’s detention center for 2 months in harsh conditions, they were released from Dizel Abad Prison on heavy bails.
The trial of the four Kurdish civil activists was held by Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court.
“In this case, numerous and harsh accusations, including ‘membership in dissident groups’, ‘forming and running a population with the intention of disrupting national security’, ‘assembly and conspiracy to act against national security’, and ‘insulting the leadership’, were attributed to my clients, which fortunately, following strict observance of the principles of justice and judicial fairness by Shahrokh Moradi, head of Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court, they were acquitted of all charges and each was sentenced to 9 months in prison only in one case for propaganda activities against the regime,” Mostafa Ahmadian, the lawyer of these Kurdish civil activists, said in June this year (2020) after the verdict was issued in Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court.
Eventually, the 9-month prison sentences of Arsalan Hedayati, Ardeshir Mousavi, Shahriar Tahmasebi, and Mostafa Begheri-Ashena, which had previously been issued by Branch 2 of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Court, were reduced to 4 months in the Kermanshah Court of Appeals.
Confirming the news, these Kurdish activists’ lawyer said: “In Branch 18 of the Court of Appeals, where the case was referred to that branch according to our protest, after a meeting and hearing of the defense on August 2nd, the sentence was finally reduced from 9 months to 4 months.”