The trial of Varisha Moradi is being postponed. The judge in charge, Abolghassem Salawati, has decided to postpone the start of the trial, which was scheduled for last Thursday, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) learned.

The postponement was subsequently justified by the fact that one of the prosecutors and an expert appointed by the court were absent. Salawati, who is also called the "judge of death" and "execution judge" and is head of Department 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, did not set a new date.

Varisha Moradi, also known as Ciwana Sine, was arrested on 1 August 2023 during a police check near her hometown of Sine (Sanandaj) and taken to an unknown location. Iran's regime judiciary accuses her of "enmity towards God" and "armed rebellion against the state". The allegations are related to Moradi's membership in the KJAR, the umbrella organization of the Kurdish women's movement in Iran, and her commitment to women's and feminist issues. Tehran sees the KJAR as a "separatist terrorist organization" because it is said to be part of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK).

Brutally tortured, mistreated and interrogated

After Moradi's abduction, her whereabouts were unclear for months. It was only through research by KHRN that it became known that the activist had been brutally tortured, mistreated and interrogated by the Iranian Secret Service in Sine for weeks after her arrest, until she was transferred to Tehran at the end of August. There she was held for months in the notorious high-security wing 209 of Evin prison, and she was subjected to torture and mistreatment with the aim of breaking her or forcing her to confess. Moradi has been in the women's section of the prison since the beginning of January. She is denied access to legal counsel most of the time.

Start of trial already postponed

It wasn't the first time that the start of the trial against Varisha Moradi was postponed. After the scheduled date - April - was postponed because a judge was absent, the follow-up hearing at the beginning of August did not take place because Moradi refused to attend the hearing. The activist was protesting against the death sentences against the Kurdish social worker Pakhshan Azizi and the Iranian labor lawyer Sharifeh Mohammadi.