Several political, civil and human rights activists in Kurdistan issued a statement and criticised the recent mass arrests in Kurdish cities in Iran, calling for an end to such practices by the government.
Following the new wave of arrests of Kurdish civilians and activists, which was launched on 11 November, security forces have arrested at least 31 people in Baneh, Saqqez, Marivan and Sanandaj in north-western Kurdistan province.
The full text of this statement is as follows:
With the dilemma we are facing today, and are all aware of, and at a time that poverty, unemployment, and worries of livelihood have spread their shadows over this land, Kurdistan is not free from these dilemmas and indicators of misery and poverty, as evidenced by statistics, confirm the horrible situation that Kurdistan experiences these days. Unfortunately, in such a desperate atmosphere, the widespread arrests of Kurdish activists and youth have doubled the concerns of families and the Kurdish community. The pressures outside the rules and the security law on the poor living conditions have intensified the psychological pressures on everyone.
Such mass detentions and practices run counter to the promises made by the president and the head of the judiciary, who have repeatedly made promises to the people in official forums in recent months. We, several political, civil and human rights activists in Kurdistan, consider the continuation of such practices and attitudes as violating the constitutional rights and citizenship enshrined in the constitution and the civil and political conventions adopted by the Islamic Republic [of Iran]. Finally, we call for an end to these detentions and the release of recent detainees.
Mohammad Sedigh Kaboudvand
Esmail Moftizadeh
Heshmatollah Tabarzadi
Siavash Hayati
Kak Hassan Amini
Mohsen Razavi
Ejlal Ghavvami
Saeid Najjari (Aso)
Hamed Farazi
Hashem Hossein-Panahi
Raouf Karimi
Yousef Haji-Khosh
Shiva Ayazi
Massoud Cheraghi
Ardeshir Gholamipour
Hamid Reza Samadi
Noushin Mohammadi
Ehsan Nikpey
Akbar Mahmoudi
Behrouz Zarei
Ali Ashrafi
Ayoub Dalaei Milan
Ebrahim Khanizad
Saeid Zaki
Khaled Soleimani-Azar (Awindar)
Mohammad Hassan Karimi
Bagher Piri
Seyed Mahmoud Mahmoudian
Saadat Kurdpour
Abdollah Sohrabi
Mahmoud Mahmoudi
Homayoun Dabbaghi
Khalegh Ebrahimi
Asaad Ghafouri
Azad Namaki
Keyvan Kamangar-Nasab
Sedigh Rostami
Mohsen Moradi
Dler Eskandari
Hoshyar Babaei
Ramin Salehi
Jalal Khoda-Moradi
Farid Razhin
Ako Kordnasab
Moslem Saeidpour
Omid Sheikhi
Azad Lotfipour
Manouchehr Divband
Omid Mostafapour
Seyed Amin Abbasi
Seyyed Abdollah Sa’adei
Ata Nasrollahzadeh
Aboubakr Pirouzi
Kaveh Kurdistani
Ali Rashidi
Esmail Saeid Mahmoudian
Abdolaziz Moloudi
Osman Nouri
Sabah Dousti
Kambiz Ebrahimzadeh
Massoud Kurdpour
Allah-Reza Abbasi
Rahim Fotouhi
Azad Kamali
Zanyar Zamiran
Khalil Asadi
Ardeshir Mousavi
Yar Mohammad Akbari
Behrooz Ardalani
Rashid Naserzadeh
Naseh Bakhishi
Saleh Habibi
Saber Azizi
Hawraman Rostami
Sirvan Mosannefi
Erfan Hosseini
Hamdi Kowsari
Ahmad Iran-Panah
Farid Farouqi
Ali Delaviz
Musa Omidi
Katayoun Mahmoudi
Mohsen Kaviani
Ali Valaei
Ali Zanganeh
Ali Agha-Salehi
Bayan Rashidi
Majid Sanjabi
Ahmad Sanjabi
Shirvan Amidi
Shaho Amjadi
Soraya Mohammadi
Hashem Sabouni
Omid Varmazyar
Saber Haghparast
Adel Mohammadpour
