Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Seven days after 18-year-old Arya Yousefi was forcibly returned to Iran from Turkey, his whereabouts remain unknown as he is being held by Iranian authorities without any contact with his family. Yousefi, the son of Fatemeh Davand, a Kurdish woman who was previously arrested during anti-government protests in Iran in November 2019, was taken into custody by Iranian security forces at the Maku border in…

Security forces arrested civilian Saman Mirzaei in the village of Sar Huyeh in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, on 8 August, and took him to an undisclosed location. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Mirzaei was taken into custody without a warrant when security forces raided his family home. There is no information about the charges against the civilian or his whereabouts.

Security forces have arrested civilians Peyman Khounbareh and Omid Cheraghi, two former Kurdish opposition members who had returned to their hometowns of Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province, and Sarpol-e Zahab, Kermanshah Province, under an amnesty agreement. Khounbareh, a civilian from Kamyaran who had returned to his hometown with a letter of safe conduct after a period as a member of a Kurdish opposition party, was arrested by…

Fatemeh Davand, a former Kurdish political prisoner and witness in the Aban Tribunal, was arrested by Turkish police on 3 August along with her son, Arya Yousefi, while attempting to leave Turkey. The mother and son were taken to an undisclosed location, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Davand, who had previously been sentenced by a Turkish court to two years and one month…

Security forces raided the home of the family of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, a protester killed during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, arresting his father and sister. Ahmad Hassanzadeh and his daughter Solmaz Hassanzadeh were arrested on 30 July as they prepared to commemorate Mohammad’s birthday, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Security forces entered the house without a warrant,…

The whereabouts of Hossein Adak, Nazir Adak, and Farid Adak, three civilians from the village of Zhiwar in Sarvabad, Kurdistan Province, remain unknown following their recent arrest by security forces, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned. Farid Adak was arrested by security forces in Tehran in recent days, and despite his family’s repeated visits to the court and security authorities, no information has…

Dozens of security forces assaulted a group of civil rights activists from several Kurdish cities on 24 July, following the funeral of Esmaeil Karimi, an environmental activist from Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province, and arrested at least five activists. The funeral of Karimi, an employee of the Natural Resources Department of Kamyaran who died fighting a fire in the Kanisheh pastures, took place in the village of…

The Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested five Kurdish civil rights activists in Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province, following the funeral of Esmaeil Karimi, an environmental activist who died while fighting a wildfire in the village of Najafabad in Kamyaran. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that IRGC intelligence agents arrested activists Farideh Veysi, Hamid Sabzeh, Amanj Ghorbani, Farzin Movahhedi and…

Hassan Amini, brother of Mohammad Amini, a protester killed during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, has been imprisoned in Sanandaj Central Prison to serve a six month and 15 day sentence. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Amini was arrested after being summoned to the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sanandaj on 21 July. He was convicted…