KHRN: April 2022: Human rights violations in Iranian Kurdistan

In April, Iranian border forces targeted kolbars in the country’s western border areas, killing several and injuring many.

The last week of the month also saw several labour activists arrested by security forces ahead of the International Labour Day.

Kolbars

In the past month, forces of the Border Guards Command killed at least three kolbars and injured 35 others in the border areas.

At least 36 of these cases took place in the border areas of Nowsud in Kermanshah province.

While four kolbars were injured after being chased by border forces, the rest were directly shot as the forces opened fire on groups of kolbars.

	Name	From	Incident location	Incident date	Dead/injured	Explanation
1	Ako Moradi	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	5 Apr	Injured	Injured along with two other Kolbars, Shot by border forces
2	Diyar Amini	village of Hani Garmaleh	Hani Garmaleh	6 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
3	Faryad Adak	Zhiwar village of Sarvabad	Nowsud border areas	12 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
4	Farzad Emami	Baneh	Nowsud border areas	12 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
5	Arman Mostafazadeh	Mansur-e Aqai village of Ravansar	Nowsud border areas	12 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
6	Salam A'zami	Mansur-e Aqai village of Ravansar	Nowsud border areas	12 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
7	Mohammad Moloudi	Baneh	Hangeh-ye Zhal Baneh	13 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
8	Touraj Karimi	Shamshir village of Paveh	Nowsud border areas	16 Apr	Injured	37-year-old, Shot by border forces
9	Hasib Habibi	Shamshir village of Paveh	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
10	Sasan Khani	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
11	Habib	Sharvine village of Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
12	Sa'dollah Hosseini	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
13	Namdar Hosseini	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
14	Mobin Moradi	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
15	Vazir Mostafaie	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
16	Mahmoud Tavgouzi	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
17	Abdollah Saseli	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
18	Mahdi	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	17 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
19	Soleiman Esmailzadeh	Banu Khalaf village of Sardasht	Nowsud border areas	18 Apr	Killed	37-year-old, father of a young child, Shot by border forces
20	Arash Nouri	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	19 Apr	Killed	30-year-old, married, Shot by border forces
21	Mohammad Fakhri	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Fell from border heights after being chased by border forces
22	Hushang Karimi	Kamyaran	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Fell from border heights after being chased by border forces
23	Dara Youzi	Kamyaran	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Fell from border heights after being chased by border forces
24	Abed Shajarian	Kamyaran	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Fell from border heights after being chased by border forces
25	Dana Rahmati	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
26	Ramazan Saberi	Kamyaran	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
27	Fereydun Youzi	Kamyaran	Nowsud border areas	21 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
28	Meysam Shafi'i	Kowarzan	Nowsud border areas	22 Apr	Injured	Fell from border heights
29	Esmail Sabokru	Ravansar	Nowsud border areas	23 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
30	Ehsan Karami	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	23 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
31	Masmoud Mahmoudi	Sivar village of Marivan	Nowsud border areas	24 Apr	Injured	32-year-old, Shot by border forces
32	Namdar Ahmadi	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	28 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
33	Amin Veisi	Javanrud	Nowsud border areas	28 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
34	Habib Mohammadi	Ravansar	Nowsud border areas	28 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
35	Omid Younesi	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	28 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
36	Mokhtar Shahmoradi	Salas-e Babajani	Nowsud border areas	28 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces
37	Safar Sobhani	Durisan village of Paveh	Nowsud border areas	30 Apr	Killed	Shot by border forces
38	Mobin Hamedi	Desheh village of Paveh	Nowsud border areas	30 Apr	Injured	Shot by border forces

Detentions and Arrests

During this period, Iranian security forces detained at least 37 people in Kurdistan, which included 12 labour activists, 24 civilians, and a child.

Of these individuals, at least four civilians were summoned and detained over their participation in Newroz (also Nowruz in Persian) celebrations in March.

	Name	Detention location	Detention date	Activity	Detention location and latest status
1	Parisa Sepahi	Piranshahr	3 Apr	Child	17-year-old from Mahabad, released on bail
2	Kavyar Eliasi	Piranshahr	3 Apr	Civilian	18-year-old from Mahabad, released on bail
3	Erfan Zolfinia	Piranshahr	3 Apr	Civilian	18-year-old from Saqqez, released on bail
4	Yousef Hashrati	Piranshahr	3 Apr	Civilian	22-year-old from Piranshahr
5	Mansour Kanirashi	Piranshahr	3 Apr	Civilian	32-year-old from Piranshahr
6	Zanko Masoudi	Saqqez	6 Apr	Civilian	Detained again by the security forces
7	Ramin Rishi	Baneh	9 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
8	Rebin Rishi	Baneh	9 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
9	Reza Eslamdoust	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
10	Saman Rasoulzadeh	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
11	Diako Khalili	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
12	Ashkan Shikak	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
13	Sanan Rasoulzadeh	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
14	Sina Ghaderzadeh	Oshnavieh	10 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
15	Ahmad Peyghami	Nalus village of Oshnavieh	Early April	Civilian	Summoned & detained for participating in Newroz public celebrations
16	Mohammad Azarakhsh	Nalus village of Oshnavieh	Early April	Civilian	Summoned & detained for participating in Newroz public celebrations
17	Hadi Hosseinzadeh	Nalus village of Oshnavieh	Early April	Civilian	Summoned & detained for participating in Newroz public celebrations
18	Aziz Ahmadi	Piranshahr	11 Apr	Civilian	Summoned & detained for participating in Newroz public celebrations
19	Mohammad Fathollahi	Bukan	13 Apr	Civilian	Released on bail
20	Saadi Mahmoudi	Piranshahr	13 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
21	Morteza Seidi	Tehran	15 Apr	Labour activist	Unknown
22	Khaled Haji-Rasoulpour	Bukan	16 Apr	Civilian	Unknown
23	Shahram Borak	Piranshahr	16 Apr	Civilian	Detained by the forces of IRGC intelligence service, unknown
24	Nasser Hosseini	Piranshahr	16 Apr	Civilian	Released on bail
25	Omar Ebrahim Naderi	Piranshahr	16 Apr	Civilian	Released on bail
26	Leila Ebrahim Naderi	Piranshahr	16 Apr	Civilian	Detained by the forces of IRGC intelligence service, unknown
27	Nishtiman Rahmati	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Released after several hours
28	Parvin Abdollah-Panah	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Transfered to the Detention Center of Sanandaj Intelligence office
29	Omar Soleimani	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Transfered to the Detention Center of Sanandaj Intelligence office
30	Hassan Ezzati	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Released after a day
31	Saeid Mohammadi	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Transfered to the Detention Center of Sanandaj Intelligence office
32	Afshin Rashidi	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Transfered to the Detention Center of Sanandaj Intelligence office
33	Fateh Majidi	Baneh	26 Apr	Labour activist	Transfered to the Detention Center of Sanandaj Intelligence office
34	Mozaffar Salehnia	Sanandaj	28 Apr	Labour activist	Released after several hours
35	Sheis Amani	Sanandaj	28 Apr	Labour activist	Released after several hours
36	Towfigh Mahmoudi	Sanandaj	29 Apr	Labour activist	Released after several hours
37	Armin Sharifeh	Sanandaj	29 Apr	Labour activist	Released after several hours

Prison Sentences

Throughout April, Iranian courts sentenced at least 12 people to prison sentences varying from three months to four years in prison.

The courts charged these individuals with either alleged action against national security or propaganda against the state.

	Name	Resident of	Charged with	Date sentenced	Issuing court	Sentence	Explanation
1	Heidar Alizadeh	Oshnavieh	Acting against national security through membership in KDPI	Early April	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Oshnavieh	Four years in prison	Released temporarily on bail
2	Shirzad Mamandi	Oshnavieh	Acting against national security through membership in KDPI	Early April	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Oshnavieh	Two years in prison	Released temporarily on bail
3	Vahed Sheikh-Mohammadi	Oshnavieh	Acting against national security through membership in KDPI	Early April	Branch 1 of Islamic Revolutionary Court of Oshnavieh	Six months in prison	Released temporarily on bail
4	Abdolvahed Abbasizadeh	Oshnavieh	Propaganda in favor of KDPI through cyberspace	Early April	Branch 1 of Islamic Revolutionary Court of Saqqez	Three months in prison	Released temporarily on bail
5	Ahad Mowloudi	Youneslian village of Naqadeh	Propaganda in favor of KDPI through cyberspace	Early April	Islamic Revolutionary Court of Naqadeh	Five months in prison	Released temporarily on bail
6	Hossein Khaliani	Kuik Village of Naqadeh	Propaganda in favor of KDPI through cyberspace	Early April	Islamic Revolutionary Court of Naqadeh	Five months in prison	Released temporarily on bail
7	Houshyar Shabani	Baneh	Propaganda against the state	Early April	Branch 1 of Islamic Revolutionary Court of Saqqez	One year in prison	Acquitted of acting against national security, released temporarily on bail
8	Mohammad Mirza Rahmani	Kamyaran	Propaganda in favor of groups opposed to state	16 Apr	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Kamyaran	91 days in prison	Became a suspended prison sentence for two years
9	Sirvan Ghorbani	Kamyaran	Propaganda in favor of groups opposed to state	16 Apr	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Kamyaran	91 days in prison	Became a suspended prison sentence for two years
10	Amanj Ghorbani	Kamyaran	Propaganda in favor of groups opposed to state	16 Apr	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Kamyaran	91 days in prison	Became a suspended prison sentence for two years
11	Borhan Kamangar	Kamyaran	Propaganda in favor of groups opposed to state	16 Apr	Branch 101 of Criminal Court of Kamyaran	91 days in prison	Became a suspended prison sentence for two years
12	Mohammad Seddigh Azizi	Oshnavieh	Acting against national security through membership in KDPI	19 Apr	Branch 1 of Military Court of Orumiyeh	30 months in prison	Army soldier, detained during military service in Tehran

Landmine Explosions

Also, in the last week of the month, two separate landmine explosions led to the death of a soldier serving in the army and the injury of a civilian.

	Name	Location of Incident	Date of incident	Status	Explanation
1	Adel Ghorbani	Barracks of Iranian army in Sanandaj	24 Apr	Dead	Maku resident, killed by landmine explosion while serving in the army
2	Habib Hatami Sinaabadi	Bradost Orumiyeh	27 Apr	Injured	18-year-old, from village of Kuran

Kurdistan Human Rights Network

April 2022: Human rights violations in Iranian Kurdistan

Kurdish civilian summoned for alleged anti-state propaganda

Kurdish political prisoner denied medical care despite torture injuries

Kurdish political prisoner attempts suicide, demands furlough

Hunger-striking Kurdish political prisoners tortured in Orumiyeh

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