Dr Roya Toloui, a founding member of the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defence of Peace and Human Rights and the editor of the cultural magazine Rassan, was arrested at her home in Sanandaj on 2 August 2005. She was not allowed to see her family or lawyer for several weeks. She was released on bail in October 2005. In January 2006 she stated: "In total they brought [at least 10] charges against me. Anything not considered a crime against others was a crime when it came to me, for example the publication of my book in the Kurdish language in Iraq's [Al-Sulaymaniyah] was considered a crime. There were other charges, the most important of which is acting against national security, and also giving interviews to different foreign radio stations was considered propagating lies against the establishment."(17) She had been interrogated several times during the months preceding her arrest.(18)
• Ajlal Qavami, a journalist with the weekly Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan and a member of the editorial board of the journal Payam-e Mardom (People’s Message) and Sa’id Sa’edi. a freelance journalist who also works for the weekly newspaper Asou, was also arrested on 2 August 2005. Ajlal Qavami reportedly carried out a hunger strike against his detention. Both were also released on bail in October 2005 and were also reported to be facing vaguely worded charges which can carry the death penalty.
• Madeh Ahmadi, a journalist, was arrested on 28 July 2005 in the Sarvabad border area after visiting the Kurdish part of neighbouring Iraq and detained for four months in Marivan prison, reportedly in connection with various charges including illegally leaving the country. He conducted a hunger strike in September 2005, in protest against his detention. In November 2005, when the authorities failed to implement his court-ordered release on bail, he reportedly went on hunger strike again and sewed his mouth up in protest. He was released on 28 November 2005 and reported that he was facing 29 charges including "threatening national security, doing interviews with foreign media, and contact with the opposition". In January 2006 it was reported that he had recently been sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and 50 lashes after conviction of the charge of entering and leaving the country illegally.
• Borhan Divargar, a trade union activist and children’s rights defender was detained for about six weeks during which he was reportedly beaten before he too was released on bail facing charges reportedly including membership of the Committee to Follow up the Establishment of Free Labour Organisations, membership of the newly-formed Unemployed Workers’ Organisation, managing a labour website in Iran called Tashakol (
www.tashakol.com), and with participating in the demonstrations in Saqez. By November 2005 reports indicated that his lawyer had still not been allowed to see his file and in December 2005 he was said to have been among 51 Kurds on trial before Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Saqez in connection with the summer events, of whom four were still in detention.
• Mohammad Sadeq Kabudvand, the editor of Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, a weekly published in Kurdish and Farsi and Chair of the Kurdish Human Rights Organization (RMMK) based in Tehran was detained briefly in August 2005 during the summer events. He was later sentenced by the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj to one year in prison for "spreading lies with the intention of upsetting public opinion" and to six months’ imprisonment and was banned from working as a journalist for five years for "disseminating tribal issues and publishing provocative articles". Both prison sentences were suspended by the court. His newspaper was also closed down by the authorities.
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Originally Posted by Logan13
