Condemned Kurdish journalists on hunger strike
by Jura Watchmaker, 23 August 2007
Further to my 8 August Comment is Free article on two Kurdish men sentenced to hang in Iran, I recently received from UK-based supporters of Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolwahed Boutimar a file of text documents and photos. If there are any Farsi readers of this blog who could take a look at these, please get in touch.
A little background for those of you not familiar with the case…
Two dissident Iranian journalists from the country’s Kurdish minority have been sentenced to death for being “enemies of God”. Adnan Hassanpour is a professional journalist on the editorial staff of the Kurdish news magazine, Asou (Horizon), which was banned in August 2005 during a crackdown by the Iranian culture ministry. Abdolwahed Boutimar is a activist and writer specialising in environmental affairs.
Following their arrest, Hassanpour and Boutimar were charged with membership of the PKK-linked political organisation and guerilla army Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê (PJAK). The enemies of God bit is related to the charge of “Moharebeh”, which is levelled against those who engage in armed resistance and espionage. Hassanpour and Boutimar were tried in a ‘Revolutionary Court’ with only a state-employed duty solicitor to represent them, and in short order convicted and sentenced to hang. The Iranian regime has put no evidence into the public domain to support the charges, and the EU has spoken out against the death sentence.
Please refer to the CiF article (also published on my own site) for further details of the case, and also the support blog established by supporters of Hassanpour and Boutimar.
Not that there are many public details of the case. Khalid Khedri, a research student currently living in Southampton, has provided me with bits and pieces, but from what I can see they don’t add much, and serve more to help keep the story in the public eye. And that is sorely needed. The reaction to the CiF article was poor, and the case of Hassanpour and Boutimar has received very little UK-wide media exposure. There is a short news report on the BBC website, and a BBC regional TV broadcast featuring Boutimar’s Sheffield-resident brother.
Hassanpour and Boutimar are reported to be on hunger strike in Sanandaj jail, and having been so for over 40 days they must be in a very poor state of health. The 20 August appeal deadline has now passed, and I’ve yet to hear of any developments on this front.
Instead of arguing over whether Hassanpour and Boutimar are journalists or terrorists, and the nature and legal status of the PKK and its affiliates, we should focus our attention on two young men facing imminent execution, and the struggle of a people now largely forgotten by their fair-weather friends in the west.
Friday 24 August 2007 at 16:25
The comment is free blog was largely ignored, and nearly a day after this one appears on a ‘decent left’ site it has zero comments. Fair weather friends indeed. So absolutely everyone hates the kurds. Good. They can all fuck off and die in a ditch. If they don’t, the Sepah-e Pasdaran and our Turkish brothers have together come up with a final solution to the “kurdish problem”.
Friday 24 August 2007 at 16:44
‘decent left’
That’s your appellation, not ours, moron.
Friday 24 August 2007 at 18:24
Fair weather friends indeed.
And some of us didn’t post a comment but actually used our time and energy better by writing in support. I wouldn’t have bothered posting a comment if it hadn’t been for the idiotic comment above.
Friday 24 August 2007 at 20:00
I have no doubt about the drink-soaked regulars’ commitment to the Kurdish cause. Maybe a ’silent blog’ is to some an indication of lack of interest. To me it’s more likely to be due to a lack of whingeworthiness.
Anyway, our pro-Iranian first commenter - who, I can tell from his IP address has accessed the site using TOR - actually makes an interesting point…
There’s been very little in the English press of late on Kurdistan, but Michael Howard (no, not that one!) had a very interesting article in Monday’s Guardian. If you haven’t done so already I urge you to read it.
Among other things Howard discusses recent attacks on southern Kurdistan (i.e., Iraqi Kurdistan) by Iranian special forces (Sepah-e Pasdaran). Thousands of Revolutionary Guards are now deployed in the border region, a number of Kurdish civilians were injured in the latest attacks, livestock killed and property destroyed, and 1,000 people displaced from their homes. An Iranian army helicopter was also destroyed, but whether this was through accident or PJAK design is unclear.
Iran is clearly stepping up its activities against Kurdish forces, and there have even been allegations from the PKK that Iran is collaborating with Turkey on plans to invade southern Kurdistan (i.e., Iraqi Kurdistan) and create a buffer zone in the event of US military action against the Tehran regime. Where this would leave Turkey’s membership of NATO is anyone’s guess.
The latest I have from the Hassanpour/Boutimar campaign concerns the arrest on Monday of 13 Kurds in Iran. Khedri says that within 24 hours three were sentenced to death, and hanged within hours. I cannot corroborate this story. The source is in Kurdish, and it is not reported on www.kurdmedia.com.