KJAR member jailed in Iran faces serious charges

Six months after her enforced disappearance in East Kurdistan, Kurdish female activist Warishe Moradi faces the charge of “armed insurrection”.

Warishe Moradi, also known as Ciwana Sine, was arrested on 1 August during a police check near her hometown of Sine (Sanandaj) and taken to an unknown location. The activist is a member of the Coordination of the Community of Free Women of East Kurdistan (KJAR), the umbrella organization of the Kurdish women's movement in Iran. She was committed to women's political and feminist issues such as protection from violence, equality and self-determination and worked towards positive social transformation in many areas of targeted projects - much to the displeasure of the mullahs' regime.

After 70 days without any news, Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported that the female activist was kept in Sine detention centre and was subjected to severe torture.

According to KHRN, the Fifth Branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran has charged Warishe Moradi with “armed insurrection” (baghi). Moradi is accused of being a member of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).

KHRN reported that Moradi has been interrogated twice in recent weeks at Branch Five of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran. Her case has now been referred to Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Salavati, after the prosecutor issued an indictment.

Following her arrest on 1 August 2023 in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, Moradi spent the first five months of her detention in solitary confinement in the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Centre in Sanandaj and Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, where she was subjected to pressure to make forced “confessions”.

She was denied the right to legal representation during her detention and was only able to contact a lawyer after being charged.

Moradi was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence on 1 August 2023 at the entrance to Sanandaj upon her return from Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, where she had been involved in political and organisational activities.

She was first held in solitary confinement in the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj for twenty days, then transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison and, after five months, to the women’s ward of the prison on 26 December 2023.

On 8 November 2023, the Bitawan website, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence, reported that Moradi and two others had been arrested by its forces.

While the website did not specify the date of their arrest, it described them as members of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).

On 26 September 2023, KJAR issued a statement saying that Moradi was in the region to “carry out political activities and organise women” in Kurdistan.

KJAR called on international human rights organisations to “take the necessary measures regarding the enforced disappearance” of its member.