Security forces in West Azerbaijan province have detained at least five Kurdish civilians in Orumiyeh, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, and Naqadeh in recent days.
The detainees, identified as Shwana Babakri, Farhad Esmaeili, Aso Ghalandari, Ahad Taheri, and Sadegh Mahmoudnezhad, were taken into custody and transported to undisclosed locations.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Shwana Babakri, from the Kani Rash village of Oshnavieh, was arrested at his family home without a judicial order.
Simultaneously, Farhad Esmaeili, from Naqadeh and a resident of Orumiyeh, was taken into custody on a street in Orumiyeh by agents of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
On 3 July, security forces also arrested Aso Ghalandari from Naqadeh and Sadegh Mahmoudnezhad, who had previously been injured during the “Woman, Life, and Freedom” uprising in Piranshahr.
Mahmoudnezhad suffered a severe eye injury on 21 September 2022, during the anti-government protests in Piranshahr, as a result of being shot in the eye by security forces using pellet guns. His left eye sustained significant damage.
Additionally, on 1 July, security forces conducted a raid on the workplace of Ahad Taheri from Naqadeh and detained him without a judicial order.
Further information regarding the charges against these civilians and the locations of their detention remains undisclosed.
These detentions come amidst a wave of arrests targeting civilians and activists across various Kurdish cities on the eve of the anniversary of the government’s killing of Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini and the commencement of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.
