Hours after arrest, lawyer of Kurd on death-row released on bail

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The lawyer of an Iranian Kurd on death-row was released on bail later on Sunday after his arrest by the Islamic Republic authorities earlier, according to a report by Iran Human Rights.

Hussein Ahmadi Niyaz was arrested when he visited a Courthouse in the city of Sanandaj (Sina), the capital city of Kurdistan Province, to look into the case of his client, Ramin Hossein Panahi.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court had previously warned Niyaz against conversing with foreign media outlets, the Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights Organization reported late Sunday.

It added, citing a source, that the lawyer had been arrested due to his failure to answer the summons of the court to defend accusations of the interviews in which he had partaken on foreign media outlets.

Niyaz was released on bail hours after his arrest.

Niyaz, describing Panahi’s case as “illegal,” has been the young Kurd’s sole defender after his arrest last year where he was later sentenced to death in January by an Iranian court in Sina for “taking up arms against the state.”

Panahi's conviction was based on claims he is a member of the armed Kurdish opposition group Komala. However, no evidence was presented that link him to the crimes he was charged with, which include murder.

In April, Iran’s Supreme Court approved the sentence.

“Ramin is truly an innocent boy, with his only alleged crime being a member in Komala,” Niyaz said of his client during an interview with Kurdistan 24 in early-July.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany