Iranian forces have killed at least 20 protestors and injured 490 during the protest rallies held in the past two weeks across the Kurdish cities, in western Iran, over the killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini.
Amini died on 16 September after she was hospitalized following her arrest and torture by morality police in Tehran.
The 22-year-old Kurdish woman was arrested on 13 September for having worn the hijab “inappropriately” and was beaten by the morality police on the way to a detention facility.
Local businesses protested IRGC shelling of Kurdish opposition in Iraqi Kurdistan
On 1 October, the local businesses and shop owners throughout Iranian Kurdistan carried out a widespread strike by closing their shops to condemn the recent shelling of the camps of the Kurdish opposition parties and the political refugee camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The strike was a continuation of the recent nationwide protests in the cities of Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Sardasht, Mahabad, Rabat, Bukan, Saqqez, Divandarreh, Sanandaj, Marivan, Baneh, Dehgolan, Kamyaran, Kermanshah and Ilam.
On 28 September, Iran’s artillery and drone strikes targeted campsites of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) in Zrgwez in Sulaymaniyah province and in Koy Sanjaq and Prdeh in Erbil province.
As a result of these bombings, 17 people lost their lives and 49 others were injured.
Following the attack, many woman protesters went to the streets on 1 October in Bukan, Mahabad, Dehgolan, Sanandaj, Marivan and Kermanshah and held protests for the third week.
At least 20 civilians were killed across Kurdish cities
Reportedly, anti-riot and Basij forces of the IRGC opened fire on protesters in Marivan and Dehgolan. As a result, at least one protester named Mokhtar Ahmadi was killed in Marivan and at least 15 others were injured.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN)’s investigations indicate that the anti-riot and paramilitary Basij forces killed at least 20 protestors in Orumiyeh, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Divandarreh, Saqqez, Dehgolan, Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e Gharb and Ilam.
The identities of these civilians are Farjad Darvishi, Mohsen Mohammadi, Fereydoun Mahmoudi, Reza Lotfi, Zakariya Khiyal, Foad Ghadimi, Minou Majidi, Danesh Rahnema, Sadraddin Litani, Milan Haghighati, Amin Marefat, Abdollah Mahmudpour, Mohsen Gheysari, Saeid Mohammadi, Amir Fouladi, Iman Mohammadi, Reza Shahparnia, Abdolsalam Ghader Galvani, Samad Barginia and Mokhtar Ahmadi.
These included four minors; Marefat, Mahmudpour, Khiyal and Fouladi were 15-16 years old teenagers.
So far, no detailed information has been obtained about the handing over of Iman Mohammadi’s body in Eslamabad-e Gharb and his burial.
Public protests continue, many civilians arrested
Despite the strict security atmosphere and mass detentions since the beginning of protests against the murder of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, popular protests are still ongoing in many cities of Kurdistan and Iran.
To prevent the continuation of the protests, the security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the Security Police, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC, have been raiding the homes of civilians and arresting them without providing court orders.
“The officers broke into the house in the middle of the night. While creating an atmosphere of terror and insulting my family members, they put a bag over my head, beat and arrested me”, said a protester who was detained and released in the past few days and did not want his identity to be revealed for security reasons.
Several other protesters in the cities of Oshnavieh, Saqqez, Sanandaj, Marivan, Kamyaran and Paveh told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that arrested protesters are kept in “harsh conditions” in security detention centres and halls of city prisons.
They emphasized that security interrogators subjected them to “mental and emotional torture to obtain forced confessions”.
The statistics collected by the KHRN show that security and military forces arrested at least 785 people in Sanandaj, Oshnavieh, Takab, Piranshahr, Sardasht, Bukan, Orumiyeh, Mahabad, Divandarreh, Qorveh, Saqqez, Bijar, Marivan, Baneh, Dehgolan, Marivan, Kamyaran, Paveh, Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e Gharb, Ilam, Abdanan, Tehran and Nowshahr.
In Kurdistan province alone, 65 women protestors are currently being held under harsh conditions and without basic sanitary facilities in the quarantine ward of the Juvenile Detention Centre of Sanandaj.
The reports received from this detention facility indicate that some of the arrested woman activists have been threatened and pressured to make forced confessions.
One of the relatives of a civilian arrested in Oshnavieh spoke to the KHRN and said:
“There is an unofficial martial law in the city of Oshnavieh at night, and the security institutions continue to arrest civilians at night. Some detainees, who were subjected to severe torture in the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC, were released on streets in the past two days while they were barely able to walk.”
Information on the 20 killed civilians so far confirmed by the KHRN:
- Mohsen Mohammadi was from Divandarreh and was wounded by anti-riot forces on 19 September during protests in the city. He died the next day due to the severity of his injuries in Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj.
- Fereydoun Mahmoudi, 33, who was from Saqqez and the father of two children, was shot and killed by anti-riot forces on 19 September during protests in the city.
- Reza Lotfi, who was from Dehgolan, was shot and killed by anti-riot forces on 19 September during protests in the city.
- Farjad Darvishi, 23, was from the Balu village in Orumiyeh. He was shot and killed by anti-riot forces during a protest rally in the Valiasr neighbourhood of Orumiyeh on 20 September.
- Zakariya Khiyal was a 16 years old child from Piranshahr. He was killed by anti-riot forces on the streets of Piranshahr on 20 September.
- Minou Majidi, 55, was the mother of three children and came from Kermanshah. She was killed by anti-riot forces in Nobahar Street of this city.
- Foad Ghadimi, 39, was from Divandarreh and the father of two children. He was injured on 19 September during the popular protests in the city and died after being hospitalized for two days in Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj.
- Danesh Rahnema, 22, was from the Balu village of Orumiyeh. He was killed by Basij forces on 21 September during the protests held in his village.
- Abdollah Mahmudpour, 16, was from the Balu village of Orumiyeh. He was killed by Basij forces on 21 September during the protests held in his village.
- Amin Marefat, 16, was from Oshnavieh. He was killed by anti-riot forces on 21 September during protests in this city.
- Milan Haghigi, 21, was from Oshnavieh. He was killed by anti-riot forces on 21 September during protests in this city.
- Sadraddin Litani, 27, was from Piranshahr. He was killed by anti-riot forces on 21 September during protests in this city.
- Mohsen Gheysari, 13, was from Ilam. He was killed by anti-riot forces on the Taleghani Street of Ilam on 21 September.
- Amir Fouladi, 15, was from Eslamabad-e Gharb. He was killed by the armed forces near the governorate building of Eslamabad-e Gharb on 21 September.
- Saeid Mohammadi, 25, was from Eslamabad-e Gharb. He was killed by the armed forces near the governorate building of Eslamabad-e Gharb on 21 September.
- Iman Mohammadi, 22, was from Eslamabad-e Gharb. He was killed by the armed forces near the governorate building of Eslamabad-e Gharb on 21 September.
- Reza Shahparnia, 23, was from Kermanshah. He was shot at by anti-riot forces in Kermanshah on 20 September. Dozens of shotgun shots hit his body and a bullet hit his heart. After two days, his body was handed over to his family and was buried in Kermanshah.
- Abdolsalam Ghader Galvani, 32, was from Oshnavieh. He was shot by Iranian armed forces during the recent public protests on 21 September. He died on 26 September due to the severity of his injuries at Khomeini Hospital in Orumiyeh.
- Samad Barginia, 52, was from Piranshahr. He was shot by Iranian armed forces during the recent public protests on 20 September. He died on 28 September due to the severity of his injuries at Khomeini Hospital in Orumiyeh.
- Mokhtar Ahmadi was from Marivan. He was killed by Iranian armed forces on 1 October during the protests in this city.
The list of the arrested protesters by cities as registered so far by the KHRN:
Kurdistan Province
Sanandaj: Zhina Modarres Gorji (women’s rights activist), Sarya Sharifi (civil rights activist), Faranak Rafiei (civil rights activist), Baran Saedi (civil rights activist), Gashin Mohammadi (women’s rights activist), Mahrou Hedayati (civil rights activist), Azadeh Jamaati ( civil rights activist), Bahar Zangiband (civil rights activist), Rezan Ahmadi (civil rights activist), Rozhan Ghaderi (artist), Soraya Khedri (civil rights activist), Nasser Golparipour (father of the executed Kurdish political prisoner Habibollah Golparipour), Shahriar Oskoui (athlete), Mozaffar Salehnia (labour activist), Amir Gholami (filmmaker), Farhad Sanandaji (filmmaker), Mohammad Abdollahpour, Kaveh Karimi, Shoja Roshan, Lotfollah Ahmadi (labor activist), Reza Sharifeh (Teachers’ union activist), Hossein Saedi (released), Adnan Rahimi (released), Sirvan Amini (released), Jamil Moradi (released), Hiva Rahimi (released), Srwah Shahabi (released), Zana Ahmadi, Diako Ahmadi, Shadi Aslani (social activist), Monireh Mohammadi (social and cultural activist), Parya Mortezaei, Mohammad Kazemi, Matin Asadi, Salah Zamani (labour activist), Bakhtiyar Samadi, Chiyako Beigleri, Arman Nourizad, Farideh Nemati (civil rights activist), Somayyeh Ebrahimi, Bayan Azizi (women’s-rights activist, released), Sohrab Jalali, Kamran Sakhtemangar (labour activist)
Bijar: Leila Abbasi (artist and teachers’ union activist), Jafar Valadkhani (teachers’ union activist), Melika Kavandi, Mohammad Reza Nosrati, Mohammad Karam Zamani (teachers’ union activist)
Saqqez: Behnam Rahimi, Rebaz Rezaei, Aria Majidpour, Seyyed Sroush Abbasi Shah-Ebrahimi (Yarsani activist), Rizgar Bahrami, Farough Mortezaei, Shorash Talaei
Qorveh: Ahmad Nezamipour (teacher), Soheila Babaei, Hiva Khani, Mansour Rezaei
Kamyaran: Hadi Kamangar (civil rights activist), Sirvan Moradi (civil rights activist), Omid Nazarian (civil rights activist), Datam Heshadast, Leila Ghaluzi, Mohammad Mehdizadeh, Zanyar Sabouri, Ako Hosseini, Hamid Yousefi, Milad Kamangar (released), Anvar Ghorbani, Ehsan Fatehi, Mohammad Parvizi (released), Turan Hosseini, Ako Hosseini (Turan Hosseini’s son), Sirous Nadimi, Khabat Mozafari (teacher and member of Kurdistan-Kamyaran Teachers’ Union, released), Edris Mehdizadeh (teacher, released), Hesam Mehdizadeh (teacher, released), Shayan Emami, Pezhman Mohammadi, Farzin Movaffaghi (teachers’ union activist), Amir Nadimi (civil rights activist)
Dehgolan: Sirous Abbasi (civil rights activist), Azad Abbasi (civil rights activist), Sirwah Rahmani (civil rights activist), Yadollah Motaei (athlete), Mehdi Javanmardi
Marivan: Amjad Saedi (released), Rebwar Kamranipour (released), Khabat Veysi, Shahriar Afsari, Avin Rasti (women’s rights activist), Mojtaba Bartani, Sina Iranipour, Foad Delanginz
Divandarreh: Smko Mohammadian, Soran Mohammadian, Aboubakr Ghoreishi, Momen Ghoreishi
Baneh: Hadi Kia (cultural activist), Galavezh Khakipour, Somayyeh Ketabi, Sheyda Salimi
West Azerbaijan Province
Orumiyeh: Amir Abdoli, Mehran Pazeshi, Sisou Omarzadeh, Pano Abdollahzadeh, Omid (last name unknown), Towhid (last name unknown), Reza Sufi, Yousef Salamat, Kivan Jajouyi, Aran Tibash (civil rights activist and former political prisoner), Peyman Mirzazadeh (singer and former political prisoner), Armin Nabizadeh, Fereydoun Nabizadeh, Shorash Eslam Sakani (Balu village), Salim Mirzaei (Balu village), Mohammad Valizadeh (from Bukan, student at University of Orumiyeh), Dariush Kheyri (Balu village), Mehrdad Ebrahimi (youth kickboxing champion in Iran), Peyman Ebrahimi, Omran Mirzaei (Balu village), Mohsen Kalashi (Balu village), Nobakht Tafsili (Balu village), Kamran Mansouri (Balu village)
Oshnavieh: Ayoub Haghighi, Kamyar Shamati, Ayoub Esmaeilian, Ramin Khosravi, Haji Mohammad Peyghami, Omid Hosseinpour, Jafar Hosseinpour, Seyed Vahab Habibi, Musa Mam-Ali, Siamand Azarian, Shahram Maarouf Mola, Farzad Tahazadeh, Mowloud (last name unknown), Fardin Khosh-Khahash , Mamosta Anvar Rastgar (Imam), Matin Mihankhah (14-year-old child), Rahim Azizi, Keyvan Azarang, Vahab Azarang, Yaqub Mojavar, Shirzad Tahazadeh, Amin Khaleghi (14-year-old child), Kamal Esmaeili, Farzad Rasulpour, Osameh (last name unknown), Kamyar Maroufi, Shahram Bengini, Aboubakr Irandoust, Kambiz Shahi, Faryad Ahmadpour, Ghader Ghorbani, Omid Rasoulpour, Abbas Hashempour (labour and environmental activist), Mobin Rasoultab
Naqadeh: Masoud (Soran) Abdollahzadeh, Manouchehr Abdollahzadeh, Sohrab Sohrabi, Kiyan Abdollahpour, Hemin Ghassemi, Abdollah Khoshkalam, Ali Hanifi, Samad Hosseini, Hadi Dirmina
Takab: Bahman Faraji
Piranshahr: Ashkan Pirnia (student), Zanyar Nasiri, Saeid Karimi, Fardin Mam-Khezrpour, Aboubakr Barzinji, Shahab Lavjeh, Chia Bazergani, Jalal Sattarzadeh, Ali Heidarzadeh, Sharif Ghaderzadeh, Fardin Kamla, Mohammad (Shahram) Ghaderpour, Mohammad Nozari, Ebrahim Mohammadi, Esmaeil Nabi, Behzad Mostafapour, Ehsan Abdollahzadeh, Zanyar Nasri (minor), Hassel Ghadou, Mohammad Amin Kasravi, Ahmad Ghaderi
Bukan: Diako Mehr-Navaei, Kaveh Faghih-Amiri, Masoud Kordpour (Editor-in-Chief of Mukrian News Agency), Mohammad Valizadeh (Student at University of Orumiyeh)
Sardasht: Behnam Ghaderi
Mahabad: Saber Abdollahtash, Younes Chokali, Amir Abdollazadeh, Mohsen Nik-Manesh (graphic design student at Tabriz University of Art), Saeid Roghani (hospital medical staff), Aso Gorouhani (hospital medical staff), Saman Ghazali (civil rights activist), Bawan Lotfi (student)
Kermanshah Province
Kermanshah: Sadegh Olfati
Dalahu: Siavash Hayati (Secretary of the United Kurdish Front and the spokesperson of the Consultative Assembly of Yarsan Activists)
Paveh: Golareh Moradi (released, Arvin Eghbali (released), Soren Asaadi (released), Nima Naderi (released), Karo Hosseini (released), Anas Maghsoudi (released), Peyman Karimi (released), Rebwar Fatehi (released), Hazhar Sharifi (released), Ehsan Sadeghiani (released), Milad Gholami (released), Sina Naderi (released), Azhvan Sadeghi (released), Sirvan Ansari (released), Omran Ahmadi (released), Peyman Ahmadi (released), Milad Ansari (released), Soma Naghshbandi (released), Mosleh Sharifi (released), Kamyab Salehi (released), Mobin Shafiei (released), Anas Valadbeigi (released), Danesh Karimi (released), Fardin Mohammadi (released), Javad Mowloudi (released), Kamran Karimi, Loghman Kiyani, Akar Salimi (minor), Vahid Ansari, Peshawa Rahbari, Shayan Fathi, Mohammad Fathi, Mahan Fathi (minor), Ramin Ahmadi, Parsa Hosseini, Akar Salimi
Eslamabad-e Gharb: Reza Ramezani (athlete)
Ilam Province
Ilam: Mashallah Morshedi, Mohsen Morshedi, Taleb Morshedi, Hamed Vahdati, Miad Morshedi, Vahid Latifnezhad (athlete), Kajal Vatanpour (from Gilan-e Gharb and law student at Ilam University), Aref Omidi, Manouchehr Cheraghi, Yasser Abdi, Payam Esfandiyari
Abdanan: Farshad Nasiri, Hassan Saffar, Shima Biranvand, Hadi Vafaei, Pouria Mahmoudnezhad, Ali-Asghar Alvandi, Ahmad Yareh, Omran Gheysari, Amir Jamshidi, Iman Nazari, Alireza Darvishi, Armin Hemmati, Pourya Mahmoudnezhad, Ali Asghar Alvandi, Vali Hosseini
Tehran Province
Tehran: Zanyar Mohammadnezhad, Nima Soltani (from Baneh, student), Sarvin Heydari (student), Hassan Bahrami
Mazandaran Province
Nowshahr: Mozhgan Kavousi
Alborz Province
Karaj: Erfan Kahzad
