Security forces today arrested Kurdish civilians Omid Ebrahimi, Yasser Sharifian, and Rashid Faghizadeh in Oshnavieh, West Azerbaijan Province, taking them to an undisclosed location. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that security forces raided their family homes and arrested them without warrants. The fate of the detainees and the charges against them remain unknown.
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Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Hassan Ahmadi, a Kurdish artist from Maku, West Azerbaijan Province, on 27 April, taking him to an undisclosed location. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the agents raided Ahmadi’s home and arrested him without a warrant after searching the property. Despite repeated efforts by Ahmadi’s family to find out about his fate, the security and judicial authorities have…
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Kurdish Sunni cleric Saber Khoda-Moradi has been sentenced to prison, while fellow cleric Ayat Gholami has been arrested, in a renewed wave of crackdowns by the Special Clerical Courts. The Special Clerical Court in Hamadan recently sentenced Saber Khoda-Moradi, the Friday prayer leader of the town of Qawakh in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, to 22 months in prison. He had already received a 15-month prison sentence in…
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Kurdish civilians Awat Babakhani, Zaher Mahmoudian, Mohammad Khezri and Saeid Zargoush were arrested by security forces in Oshnavieh, Abdanan, and Divandarreh in the past week and taken to undisclosed locations. Babakhani, from Divandarreh in Kurdistan Province, was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents on 15 April, and his condition and whereabouts remain unknown. On 19 April, security forces raided the homes of Khezri and Mahmoudian in…
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Loghman Amini, the Friday prayer leader of the Chahar Yar-e Nabi mosque and a religious studies teacher in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, was arrested today following a summons to the Special Clerical Court in Hamadan and taken to an undisclosed location. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Amini received an official notice in recent days ordering him to appear before the Special Clerical…
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Srwa Pour-Mohammadi, a Kurdish language teacher and board member of the Nozhin Socio-Cultural Association, was sent to Sanandaj Central Prison on 19 April to begin serving a five-year sentence. Pour-Mohammadi was summoned last week to the Enforcement of Judgements Office at the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, and was detained after appearing before the authorities. In November 2023, Branch One of the…
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Seven Kurdish civilians from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, have been provisionally released on bail from prisons in Mahabad and Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, while six others remain in custody in Mahabad Prison. Nazanin Elyasi, Shwana (Osman) Jahanifar, Rahman Dana, Yousef Ghal, Abdollah Houshmand, Zanyar Seyyed-Ahmadi, and Hawre Ghoveh were released on bail of 30 billion rials (nearly 30,000 USD) each in recent days, while Ghader…
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Kurdish women activists Baran Saedi and Leyla Pashaei, who were arrested after taking part in an International Women’s Day event in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, have been provisionally released on bail. The activists were arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence following the 8 March rally and taken to the ministry’s detention centre in the city, where they were held in solitary confinement for 10…
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Iranian authorities have arrested 11 more Kurdish activists and civilians in recent days, bringing the total number of detainees to at least 21, as part of a wider crackdown on Newroz celebrations in Kurdish cities. The detainees – Shno Mohammadi, Zahed Shahabi, Behzad Dafei, Karvan Dafei, Saheb (Arivan) Shakeri, Shirvan Heydari, Edris Heydari, Sirvan Hatami, Mahmoud Naderi, Keyvan Minouei, and Asaad Baba-Karami – were taken…
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In its monthly reports, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) highlights cases of human rights violations in Kurdistan and violations of the rights of Kurdish civilians in different regions and cities across Iran.
This report includes all cases recorded and reported by KHRN from across Iran through its own sources and verification mechanisms from 1 May to 31 May.
The restrictive environment for independent human rights organisations in Iran, coupled with the pressures faced by individuals subjected to human rights violations and their families, make it difficult to publish accurate and comprehensive reports.
It is therefore important to note that the statistics and information presented in this report do not cover all cases of human rights violations. This report is the result of examining news and reports published by the KHRN and fact-checking of reports published by other human rights organisations and news websites.
Executions
Iran executed at least 15 prisoners in May, nine being on drug-related charges and six on charges of “premeditated murder”.
The majority of these executions took place in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province.
*Explanation: The KHRN, recognizing the fundamental right to life, publishes and records news and execution statistics without regard to the ethnic background of individuals and the location of the execution. All cases reported to the organisation by credible sources are published after thorough fact-checking.
Femicide
At least four Kurdish women were reported to be victims of femicide in May. Two were killed by their husbands, one by her son-in-law and one by a suitor.
All four cases occurred in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, and the method of murder in all cases was gunshot.
Kolbars
Last month, at least three kolbars were shot dead by Iranian border guards in the border areas of Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces, while two others were wounded in the border areas of Kurdistan Province.
Detentions and arrests
In May, Iranian forces arrested at least 27 people, six of whom were sent to prison to serve their sentences.
According to the information obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), at least seven of the remaining 21 detainees were released on bail, while the situation of the other 14 remains unknown.
Sentences
During this period, Iranian courts sentenced at least seven people to prison sentences ranging from eight months to two years.
Also, the Supreme Court rejected the second appeal for a retrial of Hatem Ozdemir, a Kurdish political prisoner with Turkish citizenship, and upheld his death sentence.
Ozdemir was sentenced to death in May 2024 by Branch Three of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, presided over by Judge Najafzadeh, on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh). In September 2024, Branch Nine of the Supreme Court upheld the sentence.
With this latest rejection, Ozdemir’s execution is now even more imminent.
Additionally, in May, Branch 31 of the Court of Administrative Justice upheld the dismissal of Somayyeh Akhtar-Shomar, a 37-year-old Kurdish teacher from Marivan, Kurdistan Province, with 17 years of service.
The original decision to dismiss the Kurdish teacher was taken on 17 March 2024 by the Primary Disciplinary Committee of Civil Servants in Kurdistan Province.