Iran’s anti-riot forces and the paramilitary Basij forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) injured at least 20 protesters on 17 October and security forces detained at least 23 in the past few days in Abdanan, in Iran’s western Ilam province.
Nationwide protests broke out after a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa (Zhina) Amini died on 16 September after she was hospitalized following her arrest and torture by Iran’s morality police in Tehran.
Amini was arrested on 13 September for allegedly violating hijab rules and was beaten by the morality police on the way to a detention facility.
On the evening of 17 October, the anti-riot and Basij forces violently targeted public protests in Abdanan, injuring at least 20 protestors with shotgun pellets.
Since that evening, the security agencies reportedly arrested at least 23 civilians, including a child, in Abdanan and took them to an undisclosed location.
Some of the detainees are identified as Ahmad Alizadeh (teacher), Saeid Rahmati, Ruhollah Rahimi, Babak Danyali, Hamid Bouchani, Mohammad Bouchani, Sajjad Kheyri, Armin Kheyri (child), Behzad Kheyri, Amir Hossein Valizadeh, Ali Soleimani, Majid Hajian, Mashallah Haghnezhad, Hassan Lalehzari, Musa Pirani, Hossein Koulivandi, Kourosh Rahmati, Jalal Abdollahi, Behrouz Sheikhi, Ali Koulivandi, Musa Sabzvari, Sajjad Rahmani and Reza Moradkhani.
According to statistics collected by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), more than 2,000 people have been arrested by the security forces in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Ilam provinces since the beginning of the protests.
