Continuing the recent crackdown on Kurdish civilians and activists in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, the Ministry of Intelligence has arrested the civilians Ayoub Rasouli, Rebwar Rasouli, Rahman Dana and Shwana Jahanifar and taken them to the Ministry’s detention facility in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province.
Their arrest brings to eleven the number of Kurdish civilians and activists detained by the Ministry of Intelligence in recent days.
On 15 December, Ministry of Intelligence agents raided the family homes of four the four civilians and arrested them without judicial warrants, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
The KHRN reported on 16 December that seven other Kurdish civilians and activists had been arrested in the city.
According to the report, on 14 December, Ministry of Intelligence agents raided the homes of Siamand Seyyed-Ahmadi, Zanyar Seyyed-Ahmadi, Aram Mabzouleh, and Yousef Ghal in the village of Beyram in Mahabad and arrested them.
Sources confirmed that Siamand Seyyed-Ahmadi was released after being held for several hours.
Additionally, on 15 December, Ministry agents carried out further raids in Mahabad, targeting the homes of Ghader Kharamanfar, Kamal Masoudi and Jalal Sadafi.
During these operations, agents searched the homes, confiscated personal belongings and arrested the three individuals.
All the detainees are believed to have been transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh.
Despite repeated efforts by the families to obtain information about their loved ones, the security and judicial authorities have withheld all details of the arrests and the charges against them remain unknown.
KHRN initially reported that the arrests were carried out by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, further investigation confirmed that the Ministry of Intelligence was responsible for the arrests.
