A well-known cultural activist started his prison sentence in Rojhilat. As the human rights organization Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Sunday, Seyvan (also spelled Saywan) Ebrahimi was accompanied on Saturday in front of the Iranian central prison in the city of Sine (Sanandaj). The Kurd must serve a one-year prison sentence and receive 40 lashes. He was sentenced in August.

Seyvan Ebrahimi is a Kurdish teacher and is on the board of the socio-cultural organization Nojîn (also Nozhin or Nûjîn). The Sine-based association offers lessons in Kurdish literature and language and promotes other civil society and educational initiatives, especially in remote regions without schools. In this way, disadvantaged children also receive an elementary education that will help them on their future path in life.

The sentence against Ebrahimi, who was temporarily arrested at the beginning of the year, is based on allegations of subversive activities and is related to his work to strengthen Kurdish society, marginalized and oppressed by the Iranian central government, as well as initiatives for the release of his wife Zara (also spelled Zahra) Mohammadi, who was still imprisoned at the time. The 33-year-old is the head of the Nojîn organization. In 2021, she was sentenced to five years in prison - also for alleged crimes against national security. She was unexpectedly released last February.

There is another sentence handed down by the Iranian regime judiciary to Seyvan Ebrahimi for subversive activities. The sentence was given at the beginning of December and demands eleven years in prison. The verdict consists of two individual sentences. Ebrahimi received a 10-year prison sentence from a revolutionary court in Sine for “forming a group with the aim of disrupting national security.” Another year in prison was imposed on charges of “propaganda against the state”. This verdict against Ebrahimi is not yet final. However, the KHRN expects that it will be confirmed in the next few months - and that he would not be free again until 2034. According to Iranian law, if you are sentenced to multiple prison terms, only the longest one must be served. Ebrahimi's time behind bars would effectively be 11 years if the latest verdict against him were to become final.