Iranian security forces have arrested at least seven people in Piranshahr, Bukan and Oshnavieh in West Azerbaijan Province and Marivan in Kurdistan Province in recent days.
On 22 January, civilians Shwana Khezrnezhad, Salah Khezrnezhad and Ahad Khezrnezhad were arrested without a warrant by the Ministry of Intelligence forces during a raid on their home in the village of Gerdeh Bon in Piranshahr.
On the morning of 23 January, security forces arrested Soran Bangini and Shahram Ebrahimi, both from the village of Kani Rash in Oshnavieh, on their way to work at the entrance to Oshnavieh and took them to an undisclosed location.
On the same day, security forces also raided the family home of Matin Hassani, a protester who was injured in the eye during anti-government protests in November 2019, in Bukan, arrested him without a warrant and took him to an undisclosed location.
Hassani was injured by gunfire from military security forces during anti-government protests in Bukan on 16 November 2019, suffering damage to his left eye.
Despite the passage of four years, a pellet remains in his left eye due to a bullet hitting the nerve part of the eye and the risk of surgery.
Hassani had previously been arrested by security forces in December 2019 while receiving treatment at a medical centre in Tehran, and was released on bail from Tehran’s Evin Prison some time later.
Last year, he had been threatened by the security services for meeting with the families of protesters killed during the Women Life Freedom anti-government uprising and visiting the graves of those killed.
Additionally, former Kurdish political prisoner Salman Afra was arrested without a warrant on 24 January during a raid by security forces on his family home in the village of Ney in Marivan.
Afra had previously been arrested on 18 November 2018 and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj. He was eventually released on bail amounting to 2 billion rials – nearly 4,000 USD – after three months in detention.
In April 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced Afra to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” by allegedly collaborating with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).
Following an appeal to the Kurdistan Provincial Court, his initial five-year sentence was reduced to one year.
In January 2020, Afra was arrested and taken to Marivan Prison to serve the reduced sentence. After several months behind bars, he was conditionally released.
The former political prisoner was arrested again in April 2021 and released on bail after a few weeks.
There is no information about the charges against these individuals or where they are being held.
