Fatemeh Davand had been summoned to court for the execution of her sentence in Turkey. Facing imprisonment, she attempted an illegal departure from Turkey with her son, resulting in their arrest.
Fatemeh Davand, a former Kurdish political prisoner and witness in the Aban Tribunal, was arrested by Turkish police on 3 August along with her son, Arya Yousefi, while attempting to leave Turkey.
The mother and son were taken to an undisclosed location, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has reported.
Davand, who had previously been sentenced by a Turkish court to two years and one month in prison, had been summoned to court for the execution of her sentence.
Facing imprisonment, she attempted an illegal departure from Turkey with her son, resulting in their arrest.
She is reportedly likely to be transferred to prison to serve her sentence and faces the additional threat of being forcibly returned to Iran.
Davand, a Kurdish civilian from Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, was arrested by security forces in the city during protests in November 2019.
She endured 13 days of physical and psychological torture at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, in order to extract forced confessions that were later broadcast on Iranian state media.
Davand was later transferred from the detention centre to the women’s ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison and was released on bail of 10 billion rials (nearly 20,000 USD) on 25 March 2020.
In May 2020, she was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, later reduced to three years and nine months, by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of “acting against national security”.
In a separate case in February 2021, Davand was tried by Branch 103 of the Second Criminal Court of Bukan on charges of “disturbing public order by participating in riots” and “removing the hijab”.
She was acquitted of the charge of “removing the hijab”, but sentenced to five months’ imprisonment and 30 lashes for “disturbing public order by participating in riots”.
On 6 August 2020, Davand was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison to serve her sentence and was released on parole in November 2021, leaving Iran for Turkey a month later.
She was one of the witnesses at the Aban Tribunal organised by human rights organisations in London in November 2021.
