In February, 10 Kurdish activists were detained and 12 activists who had previously been released on bail were sentenced to prison terms. Also three people – including two military personnel – lost their lives in landmine explosions while three others were injured in the past month. Furthermore, three Kurdish civilians were killed by Iranian security forces. Detentions In February, 10 Kurdish activists were arrested by the…
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Paris, 1 March 2021 – The data compiled by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) suggest that in 2020, at least 52 Kurdish civilians, who were left with no other choice but to carry goods on their backs – also known as kolbari – between the border areas of Iran, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Turkey to earn a living for their families, have…
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Investigations carried out by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) demonstrate the human rights violations committed by Iran against Kurds in the first month of the year as 101 have been arrested, six have lost their lives while trading across borders, one shot dead by the police, and a man executed in prison. According to information collected by the statistics and documentation centre of the…
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Zanko Ahmadi, Zanest Hassannejad, and Soroush Makari were three Kurdish Kolbars killed by the Iranian border guards in the Bajar area of Sardasht, On Monday morning, September 14,2020. Two days later, in an interview with the Iranian state media, the West Azarbaijan border commander described the killed Kolbars as a “border trespasser and supported the killing of these individuals by forces under his…
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On the fourth anniversary of execution of 25 Sunni Kurdish prisoners in Rajaishahr Prison of Karaj, Kurdistan Human Rights Network publishes an interview with the Sunni prisoners at this prison regarding the details of enforcing the executions on 2nd August 2016. Sunni Kurds prisoner explains mass execution of fellow Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison on 2 August 2016. It was in October 2015 when the…
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Mohammad Jabbari, Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Kurdistan Province, announced that the main charges against the Kurdish political prisoner Mostafa Salimi were mischief, armed robbery and the murder of two police officers. He denied any ties of the prisoner to Kurdish political parties. “This prisoner has no political, security and criminal record, or history of affiliation with the counter-revolutionary groups at all. This prisoner was…
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Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN): At least 2,000 Iranian Kurdish civilians and activists were arrested from 21 March 2019 to 21 March 2020, in the provinces of Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Ilam and Kermanshah. The largest number of mass arrests was related to the November 2019 protests in the cities of Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Marivan, Javanrood, Orumiyeh, Ilam and Bukan, following the sudden rise in gas…
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Paris, January 05, 2020 – The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) announced that 79 Kurdish border porters –known as Kolbar- and tradesmen have been killed and another 66 have been injured by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military forces, or due to natural disasters along the Kolbari routes in 2019. According to the statistics compiled by the KHRN, 57 people were killed by direct shootings of the Iranian…
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Iranian security and military authorities have resorted to widespread suppression, violence against civilians, torture, murder and even sexually abusing children. following the November protests shook several Iranian cities. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network’s (KHRN) investigation, more than a thousand civilians have been arrested in the Kurdish cities alone and the fate of some of them still remains unclear. The KHRN has interviewed a number of eyewitnesses and informed…
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The Special Clerical Court in Hamadan, in north-west Iran, has sentenced Sunni Kurdish cleric Hossein Ali-Moradi to 16 months in prison. Ali-Moradi, who is…
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Prisoners Eghbal Fathollahi, Mohsen Emraei, and Shahram Mohammad-Beygi were executed today on charges related to “drug trafficking” and “premeditated murder” in Ghezel Hesar Prison…
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Habib Rezaei, a 52-year-old kolbar who was seriously injured by gunfire from Iranian border guards in the border area of Nowsud, Kermanshah Province, is…
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At least three prisoners previously sentenced to death for drug-related offences were today transferred to solitary confinement for execution in Ghezel Hesar Prison in…
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Kurdish prisoner of conscience Ayoub Karimi is facing imminent execution in Ghezal Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province, after his family’s final visit. On…
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Iranian border forces opened fire on a group of kolbars in the border area of the city of Nowsud, Kermanshah Province, on 26 November,…
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Iranian border guards fatally shot Farough Alizadeh, a 17-year-old kolbar from Rabat, Sardasht County, West Azerbaijan Province. The incident took place on the morning…
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One year after Kurdish civilian Osman Mama was arrested and forcibly disappeared during the anti-government uprising of Women Life Freedom, there is still no…
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Asaad Hasanpour, a 25-year-old kolbar from from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, who was wounded by Iranian border guards in the Hangeh-ye Zhal border area of…
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Death row Kurdish prisoner of conscience Ayoub Karimi was moved to solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, Alborz Province, on 21 November,…
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Death row prisoners Mohammad Andishkouh and Moslem Jamshidi were executed today on drug-related charges in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj, Alborz Province. The two…
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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.