Iranian intelligence ministry detained a Kurdish environmental activist in Kamyaran, Kurdistan province, on 21 December.

The Ministry of Intelligence arrested the Kurdish environmental activist Amanj Ghorbani after summoning him. The ministry’s forces then took him to an undisclosed location.

Reportedly, the intelligence ministry arrested the activist over his participation in the funeral of the executed Kurdish political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani in Kamyaran.

Heydar Ghorbani was secretly executed in Sanandaj Central Prison on 19 December.

For the past few days, despite the intelligence ministry’s threats and the large presence of security forces, the political prisoner’s family have been holding his funeral with the attendance of hundreds.

Security forces had previously arrested Amanj Ghorbani in January 2019 during the detention of environmental activists and members of the Kurdistan branch of the National Unity Party.

He was released on bail after several weeks of interrogation in the detention centre of the intelligence ministry in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province.

In July 2020, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj sentenced the activist to three months and one day in prison on charges of “acting against national security”.

Ghorbani is an employee of the Department of Environment in Kamyaran.