Massoud Kordpour is a Kurdish journalist and teacher who, along with his brother Khosro, has been imprisoned by the Iranian government for the past several months. After Khosro’s arrest, Massoud visited Intelligence Ministry offices in Mahabad (Iranian Kurdistan) to check on his brother’s condition, at which point he was himself detained. After being held in Mahabad and the nearby city of Urmia for 111 days, the two brothers were transferred to Mahabad Central Prison on June 26, 2013. Already jailed for four months, Massoud and Khosro Kordpour were charged with colluding to act against national security, insulting the Supreme Leader, and propaganda against the regime by the Second Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad on June 27. Combined, the two brothers were sentenced to a total of nine years and six months in prison and internal exile. Massoud Kordpour, for his part, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for collusion and six months more for anti-regime propaganda.
In this exclusive Tavaana translation, Massoud directly addresses three of Iran’s highest-ranking officials, including President Hassan Rouhani. The jailed Kurdish activist writes: “Honorable President Rouhani, I believe that, in order to solve the country’s problems, the lines of communication between the government and civil institutions, brave journalists, and even the opposition must remain open…The path to a secure, developed, and progressive Kurdish region is dependent on recognition of the legitimate and legal freedoms of the citizens.”
December 10, 2013
