Amnesty International has launched a campaign calling on the Iranian authorities to quash the convictions of brothers Khosro and Masoud Kordpour, both journalists from Iran’s Kurdish minority, and to release them immediately as they have been prosecuted for their peaceful journalistic activities.

On 10 November, the Mahabad Revolutionary Court in the north-western province of Kordestan convicted brothers Khosro and Masoud Kordpourof the vaguely worded offences of “gathering and colluding against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system” and sentenced them to six and three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, respectively. The Court also stipulated that Khosro Kordpour should serve five of the six years of his prison sentence in Tabriz, north-west Iran, some 550km away from his home in Kordestan Province and, after serving his term, should be sent to Kerman, southern Iran, over 1,100km away from his home, to spend two years in internal exile. Trials in Revolutionary Courts fail to meet international fair trial standards.

Amnesty International said the organisation understands that the evidence brought against both men is mainly based on reports by the Ministry of Intelligence and is related to their activities as journalists, including giving interviews to external media on the human rights situation in Kordestan Province. In an open letter to the Iranian authorities on 10 December, Masoud Kordpour raised the lack of response to concerns that he and his brother’s rights had been violated and demanded that journalists be permitted to express their views as permitted under the Iranian Constitution.

AI called on signers of the campaign to write before 24 January 2014 in Persian, English or their own language to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, and to the Office of the Supreme Leader:

Calling on the Iranian authorities to quash the convictions of Khosro and Masoud Kordpour and release them immediately as they have been prosecuted for their peaceful journalistic activities,

Pending their release, urging the authorities to allow the men regular visits from their family, including by ensuring that they are held in a prison close to their families, and have lawyers of their own choosing;

Calling on them to ensure that the men are protected from torture and other ill-treatment and are granted any medical attention they may require.

Khosro Kordpour is the manager of the Mukrian News Agency, an online news agency reporting on human rights violations in Kordestan province, and his brother Masoud Kordpour is a freelance journalist. The brothers were arrested in March 2013 and did not have access to a lawyer during their first four months in detention. Denial of access to a lawyer following arrest is a common concern for defendants brought before Revolutionary Courts.

Journalists expressing views contrary to those of the authorities have long been persecuted in Iran. In recent years, dozens have been harassed, detained and imprisoned after unfair trials. A number of journalists imprisoned because of their non-violent professional activities in the run-up to and aftermath of the June 2009 presidential election have not yet been released. In his October 2013 report, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, expressed concern about the arrest of Khosro and Masoud Kordpour. According to his report, at least 40 journalists, as well as 29 bloggers and online activists, are currently serving prison terms in Iran. Journalist Ali Asghar Gharavi, writer of an article in Bahar newspaper, was recently arrested on 11 November. Subsequently, his friend Ali Ghafrani was arrested on 9 December for peacefully advocating for Ali Asghar Gharavi’s release by gathering signatures in support of it.