Conviction of Farhad Mohammadi, a lawyer residing in Sanandaj to imprisonment

Thursday, July 2, 2020 / Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj (the capital city of Kurdistan province), presided over judge Saeedi issued a lawsuit sentencing Farhad Mohammadi, a lawyer living in the city to years in prison.

According to Human Rights in Iran, in June 2020, Farhad Mohammadi, citizen of Sanandaj, a lawyer and secretary of the Kurdistan branch of the National Unity Party was sentenced by branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, chaired by judge Saeedi to 4 years in prison on charges of “acting against national security”.

Based on the report, after the verdict was communicated to Farhad Mohammadi, he handed over his appeal to the court to request a retrial.

This lawyer was arrested on January 9, 2019, after being summoned to the Sanandaj Intelligence Agency.

Mr. Mohammadi was transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison on May 25, 2019, after completing the interrogation process and being charged. He was temporarily released on a bail of 500 million Tomans on June 9, 2019, pending trial.

Individuals’ right to a fair trial is one of the inalienable rights accentuated in Article 10 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In most cases, the extrajudicial and arbitrary detention of citizens and civil activists with vague and trumped-up accusations is in the line of suppression of Freedom of Expression and opinion, which in International Instrument of Human Rights, in Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as in Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on December 16th 1966, there is emphasis on not suppressing of the individuals because of Freedom of Expression and opinion. Regarding the Principle of Freedom of Expression, every individual has the right to express his/her opinions and viewpoints in any way possible, without considering border restrictions.

Article 5 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that the accused shall be informed of the charges and provided access to a lawyer as soon as possible. Other defensive rights are mentioned in law, but extrajudicial actions taken by the security services violate the laws that they themselves drafted and claim to be enforced.