Kurdistan Human Rights Network

A group of Kurdish women activists staged a protest today in front of the governor's office in Kurdistan Province to denounce the confirmation of the death sentence against Kurdish political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi. The protesters demanded the immediate cancellation of the sentence and the release of all political and religious prisoners. During the rally, the activists held up pictures of Azizi and chanted slogans against...

Security forces have arrested at least 13 Kurdish civilians and activists in recent days in Kermanshah, Sarpol-e Zahab, Sanandaj, Divandarreh, Bukan and Mahabad, three of whom have been sent to prison to serve their sentences. Additionally, four civilians, including two minors, arrested in a recent wave of arrests of Kurdish civilians and activists, have been provisionally released on bail. In recent days, security forces arrested Armin...

A group of civil, human rights, political and media activists from Kurdistan have issued a statement calling for the immediate annulment of the death sentence imposed on Kurdish political prisoner Pakhshan Azizi and a review of her case. The signatories also demanded review of the cases of other death row prisoners in the country. The statement, entitled “Respect the Right to Life”, highlighted the widespread concern...

Prisoner Farman Afristam, a prisoner sentenced to death for “premeditated murder”, was executed in the early hours of 7 January in Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province. Afristam, a father of two from of the village of Milkeh-ye Shir Khan in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, was arrested four years ago on murder charges. Earlier, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on the execution of three...

Two Kurdish women, Kosar Darabi and Zahra Shahbazi, have been killed by their husbands in Kermanshah and Ilam, respectively, within the past week. Darabi, an 18-year-old woman from Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, was shot dead by her husband on 1 January. She had reportedly been forced into marriage about two months earlier and had been severely beaten by her husband before the killing, leaving visible bruises on...