The following is a biography of Habibollah Latifi and a brief description of his case, prepared by Kuridstan Committee of Human Right Activists in Iran based on the stories by Mr. Latifi’s family and friends. Habibollah Latifi is a political prisoner on death row being held in Sanandaj prison.
Habibollah Latifi is the seventh child of Soghra and Abbas Latifi. He was born on March 21st, 1981 (first day of spring, and the start of the Iranian new year) in Sanandaj. The first seven years of his life, during the Iran-Iraq war, was spent in the village of Taysar near Sanandaj.
He loves sports and excels in soccer. He played in various soccer teams including Sanandaj Shahrdari (run by the mayor’s office). However, he had to leave the sport just before entering university, because a precondition to continue playing was being a member of the Basij militia. Latifi was an “A” student in the field of industrial engineering. He loves nature and topography in Kurdistan. As a result, Latifi took up mountain climbing. He has climbed many of Kurdistan’s summits.
Although he was born to a wealthy family, he always appeared in public dressed modestly. He was a bright student who received his high school diploma in 2001. In 2002, he was admitted to the University of Ilam for the Industrial Engineering program.
Habibollah Latifi has a keen interest in studying, and discussion and debate around Iran’s social and political issues. In particular, he is most concerned over issues pertaining to Kurdistan. He, along with his friends, was engaged in civil, cultural, environmental, and political activities ranging from involvement with NGOs to more political engagements. He also had the honour of being a member of the environmental associations: Zhianeh Vah and Shahoo.
Please click on image to enlarge
Habibollah Latifi was arrested on an autumn evening in 2007 on Adab Street in Sanandaj. Eleven Intelligence agents arrested him while he was exiting a computing service shop. He was not able to set eyes on the outside world for four months after his arrest. He spent that time in solitary confinement and he was subject to vicious tortures by Intelligence investigators. On the ninth day of his arrest, he was transferred to a hospital in Sanandaj as a result of a kidney hemorrhage. At the hospital, he was spotted coincidentally by a relative who describes his condition as grave: “A boy with puffed eyes, grey skin, torn lips. He was unable to stand on his feet. He was being dragged by three people while eight military and plainclothes agents were escorting them.” It was later discovered that he had almost died as a result of being kicked and beaten by approximately six people who used batons. His only movement for the four weeks that followed the incident was crawling.
His head was broken in three spots and the repeated kicks had torn his lips. It is noteworthy that Habibollah Latifi protested his condition to Kamyani, the judge assigned to the case. The judge would visit him in his solitary cell to investigate. Kamyani denied any torture and accused Habibollah Latifi of lying.
