Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Six of the eight civil rights activists from Gilan-e Gharb, Kermanshah Province, arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in recent weeks, have been temporarily released on bail, while two remain in custody.

Arash Olfati, Maria Khani, Jahangir Azadi, Hamidreza Rahimian, Mostafa Rostami were released on 26 and 27 August, while Salman Parvan, a disabled civil rights activist, was released on 16 August due to his physical condition, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (IRGC) has learned.

After these individuals were released, the families of Mohsen Esfandiari-Tabar and Lotfollah Parviz visited Branch 16 of the Kermanshah Prosecutor’s Office, presided over by Arash Bahmani, and learned through follow-up with security agencies that the detention orders for the two civil rights activists had been extended as they had been accused of “disturbing public opinion”.

They were transferred from the IRGC Intelligence detention centre at the Nabi Akram military base in Kermanshah to the Criminal Investigation Department’s Central Detention Facility on Shirin Street in the city.

The continued detention and transfer of these individuals to another facility has heightened concerns about the allegations and the possibility of torture to extract forced confessions.

Esfandiari-Tabar, a 38-year-old navy lieutenant colonel, was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents on 29 July as he left his family home in Tehran, and later informed his wife by telephone that he had been transferred to Kermanshah.

The activist had previously been summoned and threatened by the security services in connection with the Newroz celebrations in Gilan-e Gharb.

Parviz, a 48-year-old teacher, was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents in Gilan-e Gharb on 13 August, along with Khani, Azadi, Rahimian, Rostami and Parvan.

Olfati, a civil rights activist from Gilan-e Gharb who lives in Hamadan, was arrested on 15 August.

An informed source who spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) explained the reason for the arrests: “All of these individuals are well-known civil rights activists in Gilan-e-Gharb who are active in various cultural, social and environmental fields. Some of them, including Mohsen Esfandiari-Tabar and Lotfollah Parviz, led the Telegram group ‘Kherad-Andishan-e Motalebegar-e Zagros’ (The Intellectual Activists of Zagros) and the campaign ‘Darkhast-e Nejat-e Zagros’ (The Demand to Save Zagros). These individuals were also among those who applied for permission to hold this year’s Newroz celebrations in Gilan-e-Gharb. Although their request for an official permit was rejected by the government authorities, the ceremony was held on 21 March with a large public turnout, attracting thousands of people and attracting widespread attention”.

The Newroz 2024 ceremony, which was warmly welcomed by the people of Gilan-e-Gharb and surrounding cities, led to a new wave of summonses, threats and pressure on the city’s civil rights activists.

Government officials even warned of the consequences of holding such an event and said they would take action against the organisers.

According to the source, the recent arrest of the civil rights activists in Gilan-e-Gharb is essentially the implementation of these threats and “consequences” that government officials had warned about: “Additionally, the activities of these individuals in the ‘Kherad-Andishan-e Motalebegar-e Zagros’ Telegram group, which focuses on civil rights, and their launching of the ‘Darkhast-e Nejat-e Zagros’ campaign, which warns of the dangers to the Zagros environment and the government’s responsibility in this matter – and which has so far received some 30,000 signatures – have attracted considerable public attention in recent months. It seems that this has increased the sensitivity of security agencies and government officials towards these activists and their activities.”

The source also noted remarks by Hamidreza Karimi, the Kermanshah prosecutor general, who told state media after the arrest of the Gilan-e-Gharb civil rights activists that two channels with “offensive and divisive” content on Instagram and Telegram in the western province had been identified and their administrators arrested.

Describing these claims as part of a fake scenario being constructed by security agencies, the source added: “An Instagram page was launched about six months ago, and in recent months it has been posting inappropriate content against some government officials and IRGC commanders in the area. Although the identity of the page’s administrator(s) is unknown, judicial and security authorities in Kermanshah Province have tried to portray the recently arrested individuals from Gilan-e-Gharb as the page’s administrators. However, the page has continued to operate even after these arrests.”

The source expressed concern about the transfer of the two civil activists to the Criminal Investigation Department’s detention facility and the possibility of their being tortured, saying: “Given the public nature of these individuals’ activities in Telegram groups and online campaigns, as well as society’s awareness and recognition of them and their work in Gilan-e-Gharb, the accusation of involvement in managing an unknown Instagram page is not only implausible to the public, but the mass arrests and pressure exerted on these individuals in the IRGC Intelligence Detention Facility, despite the lack of evidence and their resistance to confessing, indicate the futility of this fake security scenario.”

In response to the arrests, a group of civil rights and political activists from Kermanshah issued a statement condemning the arrests and calling for the immediate release of the activists.

The statement said: “Over the past few days, we have witnessed the arrest of several civil rights and environmental activists in Gilan-e-Gharb; individuals who are considered to be committed and leading members of the ‘Nejat-e Zagros’ (Saving Zagros) campaign. Despite the passage of many days since these arrests, the families and relatives of these loved ones remain unaware of their physical condition and fate, and repeated follow-ups with the security agencies have so far been fruitless. We, a group of civil rights and political activists in Kermanshah, declare through this statement that given the long history of fabrications and false security scenarios against civil rights and political activists, we strongly warn against any fabrications and creating divisions and sowing discord in the region”.