The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and 25 other human rights organisations have issued a joint statement condemning the death sentence handed down to Kurdish woman activist Pakhshan Azizi. The groups call for the immediate cancellation of the sentence and Azizi’s release. Expressing “deep concern” about the fate of political prisoners facing death sentences in Iran, the letter reads in part: “We strongly condemn the issuance…
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A year ago, Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police after being arrested over alleged “improper” hijab in Tehran. Her death ignited a wave of national protests that further challenged the Islamic Republic’s autocratic rule and exposed its human rights violations, including systematic violation of women’s rights. Her death inspired a powerful slogan, that originated…
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As the anniversary of the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the government and the beginning of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising approaches, the security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran are carrying out widespread arrests of civilians, activists and the families of those who lost their lives in the uprising throughout Iran, particularly in Kurdish regions. At the same time, many shopkeepers and…
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The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) issued a statement on 8 August 2021 and said Mousa Babakhani, a member of the party’s central committee, was assassinated in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It blamed the Islamic Republic of Iran for the assassination of its senior member. Mousa Babakhani, born in 1981 in Bilavar, Kermanshah province, joined the KDPI in 1999. He was based at…
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In a joint letter on 12 March, thirty nine Iranian and international human rights organisations have called on the member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council to support the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council. The organisations also urged the member states…
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Thirty six civil society and human rights organisations have called on international community in a joint letter on 3 February to take urgent action over the “arbitrary” detentions of Kurdish civilians and activists in the recent wave of arrests in Iran. They expressed their concern over the risk of torture, enforced disappearances, and other abuses faced by the detainees for the peaceful exercise of their…
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Monday, 7 December 2020 TO: All Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York Your Excellencies, The undersigned national, regional and international civil society organizations urge your government to support resolution A/C.3/75/L.31/Rev.1 on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted by the General Assembly’s Third Committee, when it comes for adoption by its plenary later this month. This resolution provides…
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Anwar Nilufri, an Iranian Kurdish asylum seeker, has been on hunger strike for more than two months in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Athens, Greece. Unfortunately, so far, no official authorities, institutions, and governments have taken any action towards granting him asylum or transferring him to a safe third country. Anwar Nilufri told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) about his…
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Monday, 9 December 2019 To: All Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York Your Excellencies, The undersigned national, regional and international civil society organizations urge your government to support resolution A/C.3/74/L.27, adopted by the General Assembly’s Third Committee on 14 November 2019, when it comes for adoption by its plenary later this month. As the situation in Iran has been marked in recent weeks by another human rights crisis, in addition to…
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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.