Three Labour activists and members of the Sanandaj Bakery Syndicate- Yadi Samadi, Amir Shahabi and Armin Sharife- went on trial at Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Court of Appeal. “On the afternoon of February 27, we presented ourselves at Branch 4 of the Sanandaj Court of Appeal following the receipt of a written summon earlier on. Armin Sharife was charged with the membership in illegal…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN): Four Kurdish Political prisoners, Mehrdad Sabouri, Aram Mohammadi, Omid Ahmadi and Shaho Sadeghi, were released from Kamyaran prison. According to KHRN, Mehrdad Sabouri and Omid Ahmadi were released on Thursday, February 11 upon the leniency shown by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the occasion of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. They had served one-third of their…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that Mokhtar Asadi, a member of the Kurdistan Teacher Association was detained on Thursday, February 14 and taken to an unknown location several hours after a protest gathering in front of the Kurdistan Provincial Education and Training Office in Sanandaj. According to a reliable source, the activist was returning home with his family wehn arrested and he…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN)- Both retired and employed teachers held a protest gathering in front of the Kurdistan Provincial Education and Training department in Sanandaj on Thursday, February 14. The protestors were holding up signs with slogans such as “Learning mother tongue is every human’s right, Free education for all citizens, training system modifications, and the end of the privatisation program.” Teachers at the gathering…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network – A young worker lost his life due to fall from Mine Crusher at the Sargoyi gold mine in Qorveh in Kurdistan Province on February 08. The worker identified as Mohammad Reza Sadeghian, 22, married and from the village of Nayband of Qorveh. It should be noted that dozens of workers die annually due to the lack of adequate safety equipment in…
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On Thursday, January 24, the workers of the municipality of Mariwan gathered in front of the municipality building for the fourth consecutive day in protest to their delayed salaries. According to reports received by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), a group of workers from the municipality of Mariwan continued their protest a 6-months delay in payment of their salaries and overtime bonuses due to the…
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Four labour activists from Kamyaran were transferred to Kamyaran prison to endure their sentence. They had been arrested in April of 2016 on charges of attending the International Labour Day Ceremony but released after a few days on bail. Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that two labour activists, Aram Mohammadi and Shaho Sadeghi, were summoned to the Kamyaran Judiciary on December 18…
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A teacher from Divandareh, Omid Shahmohammadi, who was arrested by the Inteligence bureau of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 12 November 2018, was temporarily released on bail. Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that this Guild’s activist has been temporarily released on a bail of 100 million Tomans today on December 20 after 38 days of detention. The above-mentioned activist was interrogated…
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Zanyar Dabaghian, a labour activist from Sanandaj was temporarily released after 67 days of detention on a bail of 300 million Toman, on Thursday, December 13. Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that this activist, who had been transferred from the ministry of Intelligence Detention Centre in Sanandaj to the quarantine of Sanandaj Central Prison on Wednesday, was released on Thursday, December 13,…
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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.