Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, a Syrian Kurd arbitrarily detained in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, has been at risk of arbitrary execution for three years because ministry of intelligence officials refuse to acknowledge his real identity and instead are torturing and otherwise ill-treating him to make false “confessions” that he took part in an armed attack. They continue to seek his execution by claiming that he is a different man, despite two court rulings dismissing the claims. He must be released immediately.
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Head of Judiciary Ebrahim Raisi
c/o H.E. Majid Takht Ravanchi
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212 687-2020 I Fax: 212 867 7086
Email:
[email protected]
Twitter:
@Iran_UN
Dear Mr. Raisi,
Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, a 30-year-old Syrian Kurd arbitrarily detained in Urumieh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan province, has been at risk of arbitrary execution since 2017 because ministry of intelligence officials refuse to acknowledge his real identity. Instead, they are torturing and otherwise ill-treating him to “confess” to taking part in an armed attack in which he was not involved.
Ministry of intelligence officials have falsely claimed that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo is the same person as another individual, “Kamal Soor”, who was sentenced to death in his absence in November 2011 in connection with a July 2006 armed attack, which the Iranian authorities have attributed to the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a Kurdish opposition group in Iran. However, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh ruled twice, in September 2017 and again in June 2020, that he was not “Kamal Soor”. Despite this, ministry of intelligence officials have cruelly continued to seek his execution. Over the past three years, the authorities have repeatedly subjected him to incommunicado detention and torture and other ill-treatment, including kicking, punching and beating with cables, in order to extract “confessions.”
Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo was first arrested on 28 August 2014 at the outskirts of Qandil Mountains near the Iran-Iraq border. In August 2015, he was sentenced by Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh to 10 years in prison, later reduced to seven and a half years, on national security charges related to his membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish opposition group in Turkey. In May 2017, prison officials suddenly told him that he was under a death sentence because the authorities believed he was “Kamal Soor”. Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo should have been released in October 2019 after receiving a pardon for his original case.
I urge you to release Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, as he is being detained based on unlawful and intentionally false claims made by the ministry of intelligence about his identity. Pending his release, he should be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, including further threats of execution. I also call on you to order an immediate investigation into the allegations of him being repeatedly rendered incommunicado, tortured and otherwise ill-treated.
Yours sincerely,
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
