A group of retired employees of the Telecommunication Company of Iran took to the streets in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, today to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with their living conditions and to press for the resolution of various issues. The protests were not limited to Kermanshah, as similar demonstrations by retired telecom workers took place simultaneously in several cities across the country. The main demands of the pensioners…
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A 30-year-old worker from Bukan named Rezgar Hajizadeh died in an explosion at an oil refinery in the city of Duhok in the Kurdistan Region yesterday, a reliable source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). According to unofficial statistics, thousands of Kurdish civilians from different cities of Iranian Kurdistan are employed by the industrial, construction, agricultural and climatic sectors of Kurdistan Region.
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Labour activist Bakhtiar Rahimi has been sentenced by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Marivan to two years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” during the past few days. The activist was arrested on December 27 at his workplace in the Marivan Electricity Department but he was released from Sanandaj prison on December 21 on a bail of 100 million Tomans. Amnesty International…
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Haydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish labour activist and a member of the Free Trade Union of Iran who was detained by security forces at his family home in Tehran on June 7, 2020, is still being detained at Ward 209 of Evin Prison. During this period, the activist has had only two short telephone calls with his family. Despite his family’s enquiries made to the court…
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New charges may be brought against the two Kurdish labour activists Mahmoud Salehi and Osman Ismaili following an indictment filed by the Saqqez Intelligence Office, Kurdistan province. “I was summoned to the Branch 5 of the Saqqez Prosecutor’s Office on May 4, by receiving a text message. I referred to this branch after receiving the message. After studying the case, the judge told me that…
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On the eve of International Workers’ Day, Sanandaj Intelligence Office and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) telephone summoned a number of Kurdish labour activists in addition to threatening them not to attend any non-governmental event on this day. “For several days now, as in previous years, security agencies have made threatening calls to at least 10 labour activists.” A labour activist in Sanandaj told…
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Hadi Tanumand, a labour activist and a member of the Coordination Committee for the Creation of Labours’ Union, was sent to Bukan prison to serve his three-and-a-half-year imprisonment sentence. Tanoumand was arrested in June 2013 during the annual general meeting of the Coordination Committee to help establish labour unions in Karaj along with four other members of the committee. He was transferred to…
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A Kurdish worker Isaac Rouhi has been sent to prison for serving his one-year imprisonment sentence, a source told the Kurdish Human Rights Network (KHRN). Isaac Rouhi had previously been sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj on charges of “participation in World Labor Day”. The verdict was served on this labour activist following when…
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Kurdish Labour activist Seyed Khaled Hosseini was released from Sanandaj Central Prison on a bail of 100 million tomans on 19 December. The Iranian security forces detained Hosseini, a member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organization, in Sanandaj on 25 November. The activist has been arrested and prosecuted several times over the past several years for allegedly participating in a protest rally in condemnation of the…
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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 April to 30 April.
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 seven prisoners in April, four being on drug-related charges, two on charges of “premeditated murder”, and one political prisoner on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi), according to KHRN’s findings.
On 21 April, the family of Kurdish political prisoner Hamid Hosseinnezhad Heidaranlou was summoned to the Orumiyeh Prosecutor’s Office and informed that the prisoner had been executed. The Deputy Prosecutor, Behzad Sarkhanlou, informed them that the prisoner had been transferred from Orumiyeh to Tehran and that his death sentence had been carried out.
*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
In April, a Kurdish woman was reported to have been the victim of femicide. On 3 April, Azita Fallahi, a 36-year-old mother of two, was beaten to death by her husband in Sonqor, Kermanshah Province.
Kolbars
Last month, at least one man died of cardiac arrest while working as a kolbar and two others were shot and wounded by Iranian border guards in the Baneh border area.
Detentions and arrests
In April, Iranian forces arrested at least 11 people, two of whom were sent to prison to serve their sentences.
Sentences
During this period, Iranian courts sentenced a religious activist to 22 months in prison and another man to five months in prison and a fine.