Public prosecutor’s offices in several cities of Iran have extended the detention period of at least 25 Kurdish activists taken into custody in the continued wave of arrests launched on 9 January.

One month after the start of a new wave of arrests of Kurdish activists, the families of a number of detainees told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that the detentions of the activists had been extended by the courts in Mahabad, Rabat, Sanandaj and Marivan.

According to the investigations carried out by the KHRN, the public prosecutor’s offices of Orumiyeh, Sanandaj, and Marivan have extended for another month the detentions of at least 25 activists currently held in the detention centres of the intelligence offices of Sanandaj and Marivan and those of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Al-Mahdi base of Orumiyeh and Shahramfar of Sanandaj. The extensions have been given following requests by security interrogators on the pretext that filings of cases of the activists were not completed yet.

The names of these activists and their whereabouts are as follows:

  • Detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Al-Mahdi base in Orumiyeh
    Asrin Mohammadi, Sakar Eni, Farzad Samani, Sohaib Badrouj, Shapool Khezri, Darya Talebani, Salar Rahavi, Sirwan Nouri, Afshin Mam Ahmadi, Sirwan Hosseinzadeh, Iman Abdi, Bahman Yousefzadeh, Farhad Mousapour, and Fereydoun Mousapour
  • Orumiyeh Central Prison
    Azimeh Naseri
  • Shahramfar detention center of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Sanandaj
    Jabbar Pirouzi and Faramarz Mohammadi
  • Detention centre of the intelligence office of Sanandaj
    Dana Samadi, Sirwan Karimzadeh, Karwan Minouyi, Zanyar Motamedi, Sherko Paahou, and Aram Yousefi
  • Detention centre of the intelligence office of Marivan
    Siamak Adwai and Akram Adwai

The new wave of arrests of Kurdish citizens and activists in 13 different cities of Iran by the forces of the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence began on 9 January and continues to this day. During these detentions, which were mostly in groups, more than 100 people were arrested, of whom the names of 90 have been registered by the KHRN. So far, 10 of these people have been released on bail, and the rest are still being held in temporary custody in the detention centres in Orumiyeh, Sanandaj, and Marivan.

Most detainees have had at least one brief phone call with their families during this period, but no information has been obtained about the charges against them or the reason for their detention. Meanwhile, provincial and national security and judicial officials, as well as official and unofficialnews agencies affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran, have so far remained silent about the arrests.

Last week, 37 human rights organizations had expressed grave concern that detainees were at risk of torture and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatments in order to make forced “confessions”, which could later be cited by courts in unfair trials for fictitious crimes related to national security.