Seven days after 18-year-old Arya Yousefi was forcibly returned to Iran from Turkey, his whereabouts remain unknown as he is being held by Iranian authorities without any contact with his family.
Yousefi, the son of Fatemeh Davand, a Kurdish woman who was previously arrested during anti-government protests in Iran in November 2019, was taken into custody by Iranian security forces at the Maku border in West Azerbaijan Province and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in the city.
A close relative of the boy spoke to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) and said: “Since Arya Yousefi was deported from Turkey and arrested in Iran, he has had no contact or visits with his family. The Maku prosecutor informed Arya’s father that his son would be transferred to Orumiyeh for interrogation tomorrow.
Yousefi and his mother were arrested by Turkish police on 3 August while attempting to leave Turkey without proper documentation, putting them at risk of deportation to Iran.
Although Davand managed to escape during the deportation process and reach a third country, her son was deported by Turkish authorities through the Bazargan border crossing on 13 August and was immediately arrested by Iranian officials.
Davand, a Kurdish civilian from Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, was arrested by security forces in the city during protests in November 2019.
She endured 13 days of physical and psychological torture at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, in order to extract forced confessions that were later broadcast on Iranian state media.
Davand was later transferred from the detention centre to the women’s ward of Orumiyeh Central Prison and was released on bail of 10 billion rials (nearly 20,000 USD) on 25 March 2020.
In May 2020, she was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, later reduced to three years and nine months, by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, on charges of “acting against national security”.
In a separate case in February 2021, Davand was tried by Branch 103 of the Second Criminal Court of Bukan on charges of “disturbing public order by participating in riots” and “removing the hijab”.
She was acquitted of the charge of “removing the hijab”, but sentenced to five months’ imprisonment and 30 lashes for “disturbing public order by participating in riots”.
On 6 August 2020, Davand was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison to serve her sentence and was released on parole in November 2021, leaving Iran for Turkey a month later.
She was one of the witnesses at the Aban Tribunal organised by human rights organisations in London in November 2021.
