Amnesty International: Further Sentence of Yousef Kakehmami for Sending Letter to Ahmad Shaheed

HRANA News Agency – Amnesty International condemned the further 5 years in prison sentence for Yousef Kakehmami, prisoner of Uremia prison, who wrote a letter to Ahmad Shaheed the UN special rapporteur and demanded his immediate action.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Amnesty International published a statement and said Yousef Kakehmami, imprisoned Kurdish farmer in Uremia prison who is currently serving his 9 years after “two unfair trials”, has been sentenced to further 5 years in prison after writing a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur.
The statement indicates: “Yousef Kakehmami, 38, was taken to Branch Six of the Office of the Prosecutor in Uremia several times in 2015, and questioned, without a lawyer present, in connection with charges of an entirely different nature. He was told he had been charged with “spreading propaganda against the system” and “communicating with foreign media and organizations”, and questioned about a letter he had written in March 2015 to Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, detailing his recent transfer to a detention facility run by the Revolutionary Guards, where he said he had been tortured and otherwise ill-treated. He was also taken to a Ministry of Intelligence office in Uremia in April 2015 for questioning over these charges. When he appeared in court on 12 January 2016, however, he found he was being tried once again on a charge of “acting against national security through collaboration with PJAK”. Despite this new charge, the prosecutors presented his letter to the UN Special Rapporteur as evidence against him, and the judge questioned him about his communication with human rights organizations. His latest conviction appears to be a reprisal for his communication with UN human rights mechanisms. His appeal hearing will be held on 16 April, before Branch Two of the Court of Appeal in Uremia”.
Yousef Kakehmami is a resident of Mahabad city, who has been arrested in 2007 and was sentenced to 9 years in prison on charge of cooperation with PJAK. He is currently serving the sentence in ward number 12 of Uremia prison.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *