Shahrouz Hosseinpouri, the brother of Azad Hosseinpouri, one of the victims of last year’s anti-government protests in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, was interrogated today by the city’s Ministry of Intelligence regarding the upcoming anniversary of the protest.
The civilian was finally released after extensive interrogation and threats not to take part in any events commemorating the anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, after signing a written pledge, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
The interrogation comes as Iran steps up pressure on families of protest victims ahead of the anniversary of the uprising.
The authorities have also ordered Hosseinpouri and his family to go to the Ministry of Intelligence within 48 hours with their passports and mobile phones.
On 13 July, the civilian and four other family members, Shima Hosseinpouri, Fariba Hossenpouri, Shirin Hosseinpouri and Rahman Esmaeili, were summoned and questioned by the Ministry of Intelligence about their social media activities.
The summonses were issued by telephone and without a court order.
In a related incident, intelligence officers had summoned and threatened a person who had designed and built the tombstone of Azad Hosseinpouri, pressuring him to remove the word “martyr” from the tombstone and threatening to seal his business if he did not.
As a result of the threats and pressure, the word “martyr” was later removed from the gravestone.
Azad Hosseinpouri, a 31-year-old medical student from Mahabad, was shot dead by security forces during the anti-government protests in Mahabad on 17 November.
