SANANDAJ, Iran – A young, newlywed man clad in Kurdish clothing welcomes me to his home. He is Saiwan Ibrahimi, a Kurdish language teacher for Nojin Cultural Association in western Iran’s Kurdistan Province. His wife, Zara Mohammadi, is Nojin’s director; she was sentenced on Sunday to ten years in prison, charged by Iranian authorities of being a security threat.
As part of Nojin, Zara taught Kurdish language and literature to hundreds of children in and around the Kurdistan Province city of Sanandaj. She and two of her colleagues were initially arrested in May 2019, accused of having links to two armed Kurdish groups, a Nojin spokeperson told Rudaw English on Friday. Those charges were dropped. Her ten year sentence now stems from charges of “establishing a committee and group that is against the stability and security of the system.”
Zara’s sentencing has sparked widespread outcry. Social media platforms have been flooded with solidarity messages and hashtags from Iran and overseas, including "studying in the mother tongue is not a crime”, and calls on the Iranian government to immediately revoke the verdict.
‘Politically motivated’
Zara met and got to know Saiwan five years ago, through Kurdish language teaching.
“We decided two years ago that we would get married, and planned to hold a wedding party,” 27-year-old Saiwan said. “But Zara was arrested by the security forces and detained for six months, delaying our plans. When she was released on bail, we went ahead and held the wedding."
Zara was released on bail in December after her case attracted global attention, including an appeal for her release from Amnesty International. In July 2019, a group of United Nations special rapporteurs expressed concern about her detention "and the apparent criminalization of her educational activities, including the teaching of the Kurdish language."
Security forces hounded Zara and her team to end their work or face repercussions, Ibrahim said, but "we expected the court to announce Zara's acquittal, because we were sure that she hadn’t done anything except teach the Kurdish language,” he said.
Saiwan said he could not attend his wife’s February 17 trial, as “only Zara and her lawyer were allowed in.”
“We waited outside the courtroom. Numerous charges were held against her, including being a separatist and forming groups to harm national unity. There was no evidence to prove it.”
In a live video shared on her Instagram after the verdict, Zara maintained that her work was only “humanitarian”.
"The crimes of Zara Mohammadi are: teaching her mother tongue, distributing chocolates on Mother Tongue Day, and helping the victims of flooding in Luristan," she said. "This is the humanitarian duty of each individual." Zara called on the court to prove that she or her organization had worked for any purpose other than teaching of the Kurdish language.
"We are desperate for a fair and open trial in the presence of rights activist,” Saiwan said. “We understand the court verdict is politically motivated," he said.
A warning
Though Persian is Iran’s only official language, the country’s constitution allows for the use of "regional and tribal languages" in the media, and for the teaching of these languages at supplementary schools – but not within the state education system. As in the rest of Iran, Persian is the only language of instruction in primary and secondary schools
Kurdish families are increasingly seeking out language centers to teach their children how to read, write, and speak in their mother tongue, fearing its eventual extinction.
There are around 30 language centers across Iranian Kurdistan. Sanandaj hosts four language centers, including Nojin, established almost a decade ago with provincial authority permission. Nojin has flourished enough to open offices across 100 different Kurdistan province towns and villages. The association faced charges alongside Zara, but was acquitted of all charges by the court.
Idris Menbari and Soma Mohammadi, a young couple working for Nojin, are shaken by the arrest of Zara - Nojin’s “most active member”, who was there “since day one,” Idris told Rudaw English.
Idris and another colleague, Rebwar, were enjoying lunch at Zara’s house on May 22 of last year, when all three were arrested by security forces. Idris and Rebwar were released "after six days of interrogation.”
“When we asked about Zara, they said they would release her later,” Idris said, “but she remained in custody for six months, beyond what we could have imagined.”
Zara’s prison sentence serves only to “intimidate” her peers, he added.
"All our organization has done is teach the Kurdish language,” said Soma, a close friend of Zara. “Nothing else.”
Language activists at other local organisations are deeply worried that they too will face the heavy hand of the state. Adnan Barzanji is head of the city’s Razha Institute, which offers classes to children, university students, and even the elderly. He has taught Kurdish for over 20 years.
"I knew Mrs. Zara, who was teaching her mother tongue, for a long time. So this incident has created despair among us," the angered activist said.
"What really hurts us is that the government views teaching on the Kurdish language as politically motivated. Studying in your mother tongue is a fundamental right.”
‘Nothing but a pen’
The lawyer who represented Zara in court said she dedicated her life to saving her mother tongue from extinction.
“So when I heard about her arrest, I decided without any hesitation to act as her lawyer,” Dr. Jwamer Abdullahi, a law professor at Sanandaj’s Kurdistan University told Rudaw English.
Security forces used photos of the Kurdistan flag and pictures of Zara in Kurdish clothing on her phone as evidence for seeking “separatism”, Abdullahi said.
“She has carried nothing but a pen,” he said. “They charged her with being against the security and stability of the system. But when I read the case, I understood that all they were trying to do was push back against the wave of public mother tongue awareness,” he said.
Her ten year jail sentence far exceeded the lawyer’s "worst case scenario" expectations of a “worst case scenario” of a “one-year jail term.”
"This is nothing but an attempt to constrain activism in eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan,” he said. "Civil activist groups must stand against such efforts."
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