During the past week, land mine explosions in several areas of Kurdistan left one dead and three wounded. According to reports received by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), two land mine clearance officers affiliated with the Demining Institution were killed and wounded in a mine explosion during the demining operation in the Ozgaleh area of Tazeh Abad on Saturday, October 14. Another employee of the same…
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A Kurdish Kolber (Border Couriers) from Mariwan stepped on a landmine that was left from the Iran-Iraq war in this area. According to the information received by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a Kurdish Kolber, Anoushirvan Rezaei from Hilzawa Village of Mariwan wounded in a landmine explosion in the Darwaran, a border region of Mariwan, on Saturday, June 17, 2017. He is hospitalised in Mariwan and…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) – one citizen died and another citizen was seriously wounded on Sunday, May 21, 2017 by an explosion of a landmine in the Sarghala Area situated in Sarpol-e Zahab (Kermanshah province). As a result of landmine explosion, Adel Valizadeh, Son of Hamid, citizen of Dolat Abad in Kermanshah lost his life. He was working along with one of his relatives…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) – Last night on May 14, A 28 year old shepherd from nomad was wounded in his leg and arm, near the Shirazi bridge in Qasr-e Shirin in a mine explosion. The explosion was so terrific that has been heard by the entire city of Qasr-e Shirin. Over the past years, this border area has been the location of nomadic…
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Two civilian Kurdish have been severely injured by land mine explosions in villages near the cities of Mariwan and Boukan in the past two weeks according to sources that spoke to Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). “A 23 year old man called Karzan was severely wounded in a land mine explosion in the border village of Sardoosh near Mariwan on 13 November 2016. The mine…
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Landmines have killed three and seriously wounded four civilians in the Kurdish region of Iran in one month alone. Two of the three killed victims were brothers from the Sardasht area, and the other killed victim was from the Kermanshah Province. They were killed in an area that was supposed to have undergone complete demining by the Iranian authorities. The army had planted the…
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Following publication of a series of stories about victims of land mines, KHRN below publishes the story of another Kurdish citizen Jalil Dudkanloo, who lost both of his eyes and hands to a land mine explosion when he was a ten-year-old child. After its foundation following a revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran began to establish military bases in the cities, towns and…
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The report below contains witness accounts of landmine explosions and the tragic consequences of such deadly incidents in Iran’s Kurdistan region. Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) will every other week publish reports on victims of landmine explosions in cooperation with Isa Baziyar, a former landmine defuser turned activist to document the living conditions of surviving victims of landmine explosions. The aim of publishing these report is…
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The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child held its 71st session from 1 to 29 January 2016 in Geneva. The Islamic Republic of Iran was the first country to be heard by the committee on 11 January. The experts of the committee had many questions to ask to the Iranian delegation but many remained unanswered. “What do you do concretely for children wounded by mine…
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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 October to 31 October.
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 based on a review of news and reports provided by the KHRN and a review of reports from other human rights organisations and news agencies.
Executions
According to KHRN’s findings, Iran executed at least nine prisoners on drug-related charges in the prisons of Hamadan, Rasht, Khorramabad, Karaj and Khoy during the month of October.
These are the executions the KHRN has been informed of by its sources. However, the number of those executed is likely to be higher.
Civilian killings
On 28 October, Iranian state news agencies reported that a 16-year-old girl, Armita Geravand, had died after spending 28 days in a coma in the intensive care unit of Tehran’s Fajr Hospital.
Geravand was transferred to a military hospital on 1 October, and numerous news reports stated that she had been physically assaulted by government agents on the Shohada line of the Tehran metro because of her hijab.
According to various reports, Geravand had “no vital signs” from the moment she was admitted to the hospital and remained in a coma throughout her stay.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported on 5 October, citing two eyewitnesses, that Geravand had been subjected to a “physical assault” by a female morality police officer in a metro carriage. According to one witness, the morality police officer ‘violently pushed her’ after an argument.
Additionally, Iranian security forces arrested at least 15 activists and civilians, including Mohammad Geravand, a relative of Armita Geravand, during the teenager’s funeral at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran on 29 October.
Femicide
At least four women have been killed by their male family members in Sardasht, Piranshahr, Bukan and Orumiyeh in the past month.
Kolbars and tradesmen
In October, at least three kolbars were shot dead and 13 others injured by Iranian border guards in the western border areas of the country.
Landmine explosions
On 17 October, Peshawa Aliyar, a civilian from Baneh, was killed by a landmine explosion in Sulaimaniya, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Work-related accidents
On 20 October, Martin Hossein-Panahi, a 16-year-old child labourer, was killed in a factory accident in Sanandaj.
Detentions and arrests
Throughout October, Iranian forces arrested at least 29 activists and civilians, at least two of whom were imprisoned.
Prison sentences
Last month, Iranian courts sentenced at least 11 people to prison terms ranging from four months to 10 years.
Also, civilian Gholamreza Rasaei and Kurdish political prisoner Nayeb Askari were sentenced to death.
Askari, who was previously sentenced to death in absentia by the Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of “armed insurrection” through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), was sentenced to death again following a retrial request and several in-person court sessions at the same branch.