The Ministry of Intelligence in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, summoned and arrested Ahmad Hassanzadeh and Solmaz Hassanzadeh, the father and sister of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, one of the victims of last year’s anti-government protests.
The arrests come as part of the increased pressure by security and judicial authorities on the families of the protest victims.
The father and daughter were summoned by telephone yesterday and then taken into custody today when they visited the security facility.
The Tasnim news agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had earlier reported the arrest of an individual named Fardin Karimi as the alleged ‘killer’ of Mohammad Hassanzadeh.
However, the Kurdish civilian’s family refuted the security authorities’ claims, saying that their son was stabbed to death by a member of the security forces during the protests in Bukan on 16 November 2022.
In recent weeks, the state security and judicial institutions have increased pressure on the families of the victims of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising ahead of the anniversary of the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini by the government.
The families have been threatened not to publish any calls to organise events to mark the anniversary.
Some of the family members who have been summoned, threatened, or arrested in recent weeks in Quchan, Piranshahr, Karaj, Saqqez, and Mahabad are: Safa Aeli, the uncle of Jina Mahsa Amini; Reza Babrnezhad, the brother of Mehdi Babrnezhad; Hassan Daroftadeh and Mardin Daroftadeh, the father and brother of Komar Daroftadeh; Mashallah Karami, the father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami; Sharmin Habibi, the wife of Fereydoun Mahmoudi; Abdollah Aboubakri, the father of Zanyar Aboubakri; and Shahrouz Hosseinpouri, the brother of Azad Hosseinpouri.
Security and judicial forces have also carried out widespread summonses and arrests of the families of the victims in other cities in Iran.
