The Revolutionary Court of the city of Marivan, in western Iran, sentenced Kurdish activist Hiva ‎‎(Abdolvahed) Boutimar to death for the second time. Although the written judgment has not yet ‎been served on Boutimar due to the Iranian New Year holidays that began on March 20th and ‎usually continue for about 2 weeks, a judge verbally notified Boutimar's attorney of the ‎judgment. ‎

Hiva (Abdolvahed) Boutimar used to publish a journal belonging to the "Sabz Chia" (literally ‎translated as Green Mountain) association, which is an active environmentalist organization in ‎Marivan. He was one of the association's founders and served on its board of directors. ‎

Last summer, following his arrest by the Intelligence Ministry, the Revolutionary Court of the ‎city of Marivan sentenced Hiva Boutimar and a colleague, Adnan Hassanpour, to death on ‎charges of acting against national security and espionage. Hassanpour was a manging editor at ‎the Kurdish-Farsi journal "Asou." ‎

The death sentences of these two Kurdish activists sparked international protests. Following an ‎appeal filed by the attorneys of the two defendants, the appellate court rejected Adnan ‎Hassanpour's request and upheld the original sentence, but returned Hiva Boutimar's case to the ‎Revolutionary Court for a review. Hiva Boutimar appeared at the Revolutionary Court on 27 of ‎Bahman (March 17, 2008), and the court has once again issued the death sentence for Boutimar. ‎

While in prison, Hiva Boutimar and Adnan Hassanpour staged a hunger strike to protest their ‎inhumane treatment and for being kept in solitary confinement for more than 50 days. Currently, ‎Hiva Boutimar is kept at a detention facility in Marivan while Adnan Hassanpour is held at ‎Sanadaj's general prison ‎

Some sources had previously reported that the court sentenced these two activists to death based ‎on confessions extracted from them through torture and while under duress. These reports ‎indicate that prison and intelligence officers had subjected the two Kurdish activists to severe ‎mental and physical tortures to force them to make false confessions about their alleged charges ‎on tape and participate in a television program. Adnan Hassanpour's mother was also put under ‎pressure to convince her son to appear in front of the camera and confess to what was asked of ‎him. ‎

Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence have removed Hiva Boutimar several times from a ‎prison to an Intelligence Ministry facility in Sanandaj to force him to appear in front of cameras ‎and confess to charges against that incriminate him. These agents had promised Hassanpour that ‎they would arrange for his release if he agreed to confess to charges of espionage in a televised ‎program. ‎