URGENT ACTION

SYRIAN KURD UNDER THREAT OF EXECUTION IN IRAN

Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, a Syrian Kurd arbitrarily detained in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, has been at risk of arbitrary execution for three years because ministry of intelligence officials refuse to acknowledge his real identity and instead are torturing and otherwise ill-treating him to make false “confessions” that he took part in an armed attack. They continue to seek his execution by claiming that he is a different man, despite two court rulings dismissing the claims. He must be released immediately.

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Head of Judiciary Ebrahim Raisi 
c/o Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN
Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland
Dear Mr Ebrahim Raisi,	

Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, a 30-year-old Syrian Kurd arbitrarily detained in Urumieh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan province, has been at risk of arbitrary execution since 2017 because ministry of intelligence officials refuse to acknowledge his real identity. Instead, they are torturing and otherwise ill-treating him to “confess” to taking part in an armed attack in which he was not involved. Amnesty International learnt that he was last subjected to torture and other ill-treatment following his transfer to a ministry of intelligence detention centre on 13 June 2020, where he was held incommunicado for six days. 

Ministry of intelligence officials have falsely claimed that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo is the same person as another individual, “Kamal Soor”, who was sentenced to death in his absence in November 2011 in connection with a July 2006 armed attack, which the Iranian authorities have attributed to the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), a Kurdish opposition group in Iran. However, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh ruled twice, In September 2017 and again in June 2020, that he was not “Kamal Soor”. Despite this, ministry of intelligence officials have cruelly continued to seek his execution. According to information gathered by Amnesty International, over the past three years, the authorities have repeatedly subjected him to incommunicado detention and torture and other ill-treatment, including kicking, punching and beating with cables, in order to force him to make false “confessions” that he is “Kamal Soor”.

Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo was first arrested on 28 August 2014 at the outskirts of Qandil Mountains near the Iran-Iraq border. In August 2015, he was sentenced by Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh to 10 years in prison, later reduced to seven and a half years, on national security charges related to his membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish opposition group in Turkey. In May 2017, while serving his prison sentence, prison officials suddenly told him that he was under a death sentence because the authorities believed he was “Kamal Soor”. Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo should have been released in October 2019 after receiving a pardon for his original case. However, the ministry of intelligence has continued to unlawfully block his release. 

I urge you to release Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo immediately, as he is being detained arbitrarily based on unlawful and intentionally false claims made by the ministry of intelligence about his identity. Pending his release, he should be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, including further threats of execution. I also call on you to order an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of him being repeatedly rendered incommunicado, and tortured and otherwise ill-treated, and ensure that those responsible are held to account.

Yours sincerely,
Additional information
On 20 May 2017, Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo was unexpectedly summoned by prison officials and told that he had a death sentence. This followed from a chain of events that demonstrate a deeply flawed criminal justice system in Iran, including how intelligence and security bodies act with impunity to arbitrarily deprive individuals of their human rights, including the right to life, liberty and security. In 2015, following a number of armed clashes between the Iranian security forces and PJAK, the Iranian authorities brought fresh criminal charges against two senior ranking members of PJAK identified as “Kamal Soor” and “Rahman Haji Ahmadi”, and sought the assistance of Interpol to locate and arrest them. On 12 November 2011, the two men had been convicted by Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in their absence and sentenced to death in connection with an armed attack on a police station in Erbilan, near Urumieh, on 26 July 2006, which the Iranian authorities had attributed to PJAK. Following the introduction of fresh charges against the two men in 2015, the prosecution authorities also requested information from the Revolutionary Guards and the ministry of intelligence about their whereabouts. In response, the ministry of intelligence claimed that the real identity of “Kamal Soor” was Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, who was already imprisoned. On this basis, on 28 July 2016, the prosecution authorities put Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo under investigation for “enmity against God” (moharebeh) in connection with the July 2006 attack. 

Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo only learnt on 20 May 2017 that ministry of intelligence officials were falsely claiming that he was “Kamal Soor” and sought to attribute to him the conviction and death sentence issued in absentia for “Kamal Soor”, when prison officials provided him with a copy of a letter sent from the Office for the Implementation of Sentences to the head of Urumieh Central Prison and dated 17 May 2017. The letter stated, “Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo (Kamal Soor) had been sentenced to death by Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh on 12 November 2011 for moharebeh [enmity against God]”. The letter added that “the sentence was final, and it should be communicated to the convict.” 

Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo’s lawyer subsequently filed a complaint with the prosecution authorities, stating that what had happened in his client’s case was against the law, and that his client had been denied the opportunity to be heard in the court and present evidence confirming that he is not “Kamal Soor”. The Office for the Implementation of Sentences, which falls under the office of the prosecution, subsequently referred the case for advice to Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court. On 22 August 2017, the court ruled that the death sentence it had issued against “Kamal Soor” in 2011 shall not be applied to Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo until further investigations take place to clarify whether the two names refer to the same person. The court noted in its ruling that according to the Revolutionary Guards, the two are not one person, and “Kamal Soor” remained at liberty.  

In the following months, Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo’s lawyer submitted evidence to the prosecution authorities and Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh, which was presiding over the new case opened against “Kamal Soor” in 2015. The evidence included identification documents, which confirmed that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo had been born in Ras al-Ayn in al-Hasakah Governorate in Syria, while “Kamal Soor” had been identified as having been born in Mardin in Turkey. The documents further established that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo was born on 1 January 1990, which meant that he was 16 years old at the time of the attack in 2006, and this conflicted with information presented by intelligence officials indicating that “Kamal Soor” was a senior ranking member of PJAK. Based on this evidence, which was also supported by the Revolutionary Guards, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh concluded in September 2017 that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo and “Kamal Soor” were not one person and removed Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo from the new case pending against “Kamal Soor”. Despite all this, ministry of intelligence officials have continued to refuse to acknowledge the true identity of Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, and still seek his execution. On 2 March 2020, his lawyer filed a new complaint with the prosecution authorities. Following repeated follow-ups, the complaint was referred to Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Urumieh. In early June 2020, the court confirmed, once again, that Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo and “Kamal Soor” are not one person and ordered the prosecution authorities to locate the latter. However, Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo continues to be arbitrarily detained. 

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Persian and English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 7 August 2020. 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Kamal Hassan Ramezan (him/he) 

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1389562018ENGLISH.pdf

And copies to:

His Excellency Mr Hamid Baeidinejad  
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
16 Prince’s Gate SW7 1PT
020 7225 4208-9
Fax: 020 7589 4440
iranemb.lon@mfa.gov.ir 
www.london.mfa.ir