Ako Kurdnasab was a Kurdish journalist for the weekly Kurdish journal ''Krafto''. ''Krafto'', based in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. San ...

, the capital of the Kurdistan province of Iran, was closed by the authorities last year. Kurdnasab was arrested in a polling station in December 2006 while covering municipal elections.

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

and other organizations condemned his arrest. Kurdnasab was released on bail on January 3, 2007 but re-arrested on July 23, 2007, because he expressed support for imprisoned journalists

Adnan Hassanpour Adnan Hassanpour ( fa, عدنان حسن پور) is an Iranian-Kurdish 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 Septem ...

and Abdolwahed Butimar. On September 10, 2007, Kurdnasab was charged with "espionage," "actions against national security," and "attempts to overthrow the government by means of journalistic activities." He was sentenced to three years in prison. His sentence was reduced to six months in prison on November 13, 2007, after an appeals court overturned the espionage charge but confirmed the charge of “trying to overthrow the government using journalistic activities.” “We welcome the quashing of Kurdnasab’s espionage conviction, but the fact remains that a journalist should not be imprisoned for what he writes and we therefore call for the entire conviction to be overturned and for him to be released unconditionally,”

said. The European Union also called for Kurdnasab's release. Ako Kurdnasab was released from prison on January 17, 2008. Kurdnasab was arrested on November 12, 2009, following his participation in protests of the execution of Ehsan Fatahian. He was released on bail on November 30.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kurdish journalists Iranian journalists Iranian activists {{iran-bio-stub