Kurdish women activists Baran Saedi and Leyla Pashaei, who were arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, on 9 and 10 March respectively, remain in detention without contact with their families.
The two women are being held in the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention centre in Sanandaj and have been denied access to both legal representation and family visits, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
They were arrested after taking part in events in Sanandaj to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.
Meanwhile, two other Kurdish women activists, Soheyla Motaei and Soma Mohammad-Rezaei, who were arrested around the same time, were released on bail in mid-March.
Mohammad-Rezaei and Saedi were arrested on 9 March in Sanandaj, while Pashaei and Motaei were arrested the following day in Sanandaj and Dehgolan.
Saedi, Pashaei and Motaei were previously arrested during the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising in 2022.
