Adnan Hassanpour () is an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian-

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

ish journalist who was sentenced to death in Iran in 2007 and reversed a year later. He was re-tried on the capital charges of espionage and working with outlawed parties. In September 2016 he was released, after almost 10 years in prison. After spending ten years in prison, he is now living in France. The sentence to death on

moharebeh In Islamic law, ''Ḥirābah'' () is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism. Ḥirābah means piracy or ...

charge in the summer of 2007 and later to 31 years in prison by the Appeals Court, has been reduced again to 15 years imprisonment. In April 2007, after being held for four months in detention, without access to a lawyer, Hassanpour was charged by Revolutionary Court prosecutors with "espionage", "acting against national security", and "active armed resistance against the state", which is punishable by death under Iran's Islamic Penal Code.Adnan Hassanpour. International Campaign for Human Rights In Iran
15 October 2008 The Supreme Court of Iran confirmed his death sentence on July 17, 2007, but it was reversed by the Head of the Judiciary on 3 September 2008 who sent it back to the

Islamic Revolutionary Court Islamic Revolutionary Court (), also known as the Revolutionary Tribunal (''Dadgahha-e Enqelab''Bakhash, Shaul, ''Reign of the Ayatollahs'', Basic Books, 1984, p.59-61) is a special system of courts in the Islamic Republic of Iran designed to try ...

Sanandaj Sanandaj (; ) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. With a population of 414,069, it is the second largest Kurdish city a ...

for review. According to his lawyer, Sirvan Houshmand, "the legal case against Hassanpour rests purely on evidence from interrogation reports obtained during his detention," lacking any other corroborating evidence, and interrogators in Iranian prisons, (according to human rights groups), "routinely subject detainees to physical and psychological ill-treatment to obtain coerced confessions."

Early life

Adnan Hassanpour was born to a Kurdish family in

Mariwan Marivan (; ) is a city in the Central District of Marivan County, Kurdistan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Language The city is populated by ethnic Kurds and the people of Marivan spe ...

Iranian Kurdistan Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan () is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan province, Kermanshah pr ...

. He has one sister, Leili Hassanpour. Hassanpour is the cousin of Abdolvahed "Hiwa" Botimar, a journalist and environmental activist who was also tried in secret and accused of being an "enemy of God".

Political views

Iran follows the

Sharia Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...

, which the governing officials in most Islamic Republics interpret as the inequality of rights between genders, religions, sexual orientation, as well as any other practices that go against Islam. Hassanpour disagrees with this and was an advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds.

Career

Before he was arrested, Hassanpour worked for several publications where he emerged as a great defender of the right to expression. He was managing director of the Marivan Literary Association from 2001 to 2004 and edited the association's literacy magazine, ''Rawat''. He also worked with foreign media such as ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

'' and ''

Radio Farda Radio Farda () is the Iranian branch of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) external broadcast service for providing "factual, objective and professional journalism" to its audiences. It broadcasts 24 hours a day ...

,'' which broadcasts in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

to Iran. Among the many publications he worked with, ''Aso'' was the most infamous. Hassanpour is the former editor of the journal, which was banned in Iran in August 2005. This publication was critical of the establishment and how it violated the cultural rights of citizens.

2005 arrest

In 2005, Hassanpour was summoned to shed light on the way the magazine covered protests in Iran. These summonses led to his subsequent trial and sentencing, as well as the demise of Aso. He was unexpectedly arrested on January 25, 2007, two weeks before his scheduled trial. In April 2007, after being held for four months in detention, without access to a lawyer, Hassanpour was charged by Revolutionary Court prosecutors with "espionage", "acting against national security", and "active armed resistance against the state" (

), which is punishable by death under Iran's penal code. The revolutionary court in the city of

Marivan Marivan (; ) is a city in the Central District of Marivan County, Kurdistan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Language The city is populated by ethnic Kurds and the people of Marivan sp ...

condemned Hassanpour to execution solely based on interrogation reports produced by the Ministry of Intelligence. He was sentenced to death after he was convicted of spying and being a threat to national security.

Deprivation of legal right to furlough

Adnan Hassanpour has spent 7 years in prison, making him the longest-standing prisoner among journalists. He was serving his sentence behind bars in Sanandaj prison, deprived of his legal right to furlough, without a single hour of release during these years.

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

have spoken out on behalf of Hassanpour.

Legacy

Adnan Hassanpour, a journalist and advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds, is a member of the Kurdish Writer's Association. Hassanpour is the winner of the 2007 Reporters without Borders' Press Freedom Award and the 2007 Press Freedom prize from Italy. He was known for writing articles and books on the subject of Kurdish discrimination in Iran.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassanpour, Adnan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kurdish journalists Iranian journalists Iranian prisoners sentenced to death