Report on the situation of Kurdish political prisoner Su'da Khedirzadeh and her child

Hengaw: Sunday, August 25, 2024

Su'da Khedirzadeh, a Kurdish political prisoner held in the women's section of Urmia Central Prison, has spent the last two years, ten months and twelve days in detention with her toddler. By the end of October this year, she will have served a quarter of her twelve-year sentence.

According to a report by the human rights organization Hengaw, Su'da Khedirzadeh, a political prisoner from Piranshahr, and her two-year-old and two-month-old child “Ala” continue to be illegally detained in the women's section of Urmia Central Prison.

Hengaw sources in Urmia Prison say that Ala (also known as Solina) recently developed a skin allergy due to the extremely poor sanitation, poor ventilation and extreme heat in the women's ward of Urmia Central Prison. Prison authorities have prevented her from being transferred to medical facilities outside the prison.

On her only vacation, this political prisoner left Urmia on Saturday, May 18, 2023, to visit a relative in Piranshahr. A day later, she was arrested by agents of the Piranshahr Intelligence Service. After 48 hours of detention in the Piranshahr Intelligence Service's detention center, the detained mother and her child were returned to the women's section of Urmia Central Prison.

Su'da Khedirzadeh was previously sentenced to 12 years and six months' suspended imprisonment by the Mahabad Criminal Court on charges of “aiding and abetting the murder of a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and membership of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.” This verdict was officially communicated to the political prisoner's family on Saturday, September 6, 2022.

After preventing at least one suicide attempt in prison, Su'da Khedirzadeh gave birth to her child by caesarean section in a hospital in Urmia on Monday, June 21, 2022. Just one day later, she was returned to Urmia Central Prison without completing her follow-up treatment.

Su'da Khedirzadeh was arrested by government forces in Piranshahr on Thursday, October 14, 2021, and transferred to Urmia Central Prison on Monday, November 8, 2021.