Mozhgan Kavousi

Over the ages, in the struggle against oppression, writers have always been among the first to stand up and have been targeted by dictators. In the geography of Iran, writers were not safe in different periods of power and were always persecuted. Now more than three months have passed since the revolution of the people of Iran, till now at least 506 people have been killed and more than 18 thousand people have been arrested, of whom 127 people are from Eastern Kurdistan.

This public uprising in Eastern Kurdistan started on September 17, the day of the funeral of Jina Amini, who was killed by the moral security police.

In the early days, the wave of arrests of activists began, and a large number of those arrested were female Kurdish activists. One of these women who was arrested in her home on September 22, is the Kurdish writer and researcher Mozhgan Kavousi, who was released in December 2021 after 21 months of imprisonment for her work in the field of the Kurdish language.

Mozhgan Kavousi has been convicted of "corruption on the ground" because of insulting the head of the government, propaganda against the regime, undermining the national security of the country and collaborating with hostile governments.

According to Iranian law, "corruption on the ground" is punishable by death, therefor her life is now in danger. This is also the case that in the last three months, 2 people have been executed with similar accusations and in a very short period of time, while dozens of other people are under the threat of execution.

As the court quickly issues a verdict for the protestors and executes them quickly, Kurdish PEN demands that a parliamentarian get a political sponsorship for the Kurdish writer and researcher Mozhgan Kavousi to put pressure on Iran to stop imposing severe punishments such as execution.

Kurdish PEN Center

24.12.2022

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Download the statement in PDF.