Security forces in Iran have launched a renewed wave of repression in Kurdish regions since the recent Israeli attack, with dozens of civilians and activists arrested across several cities in Kurdistan.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij paramilitary forces and special police units have set up checkpoints at city entry and exit points and are patrolling major roads, creating an atmosphere of fear.
Meanwhile, some Kurdish civilians and activists have been summoned and threatened by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC’s intelligence branch.
As part of this coordinated crackdown, 14 Kurdish civilians have been arrested without warrants in the cities of Oshnavieh, Bukan, Mahabad, Sanandaj, Naqadeh and Saqqez.
Those detained include Rebwar Mostafazadeh, Khaled Bayazidi, Anvar Bayazidi, Jalal Khoda-Moradi, Behrouz Yazdan-Panah, Zahed Hejri, Rahman Mam-Esmaeil, Nasser Elyasi, Saman Seyyed-Mahmoudian, Saman Kaka-Mami, Rahman Khalkhani, Amin Bashouki, Kaveh Ghaderi and Farhad Karimi.
In the early hours of 27 June, Jalal Khoda-Moradi, a civil rights activist from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, was arrested without a warrant during a violent raid on his family home in the city’s Hassanabad neighbourhood.
At the same time, Rahman Mam-Esmaeil was arrested at his home in the village of Qezeljeh in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province.
The previous day, on 26 June, two civilians from Naqadeh, Saman Seyyed-Mahmoudian and Saman Kaka-Mami, were arrested by security forces.
On 24 June, four other individuals from Naqadeh, Farhad Karimi, Amin Bashouki, Kaveh Ghaderi, and Rahman Khalkhani, were also taken into custody.
On 23 June, Rebwar Mostafazadeh, a football coach from Mahabad, was arrested after being summoned by telephone to the city’s Ministry of Intelligence office.
Naser Elyasi, from the village of Bitas in Mahabad, was arrested on 22 June; Zahed Hejri from Saqqez on 20 June; Anvar Bayazidi and Behrouz Yazdan-Panah from Bukan on 19 June; and Khaled Bayazidi from Oshnavieh on 18 June. All were detained by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and subsequently transferred to detention centres in either Orumiyeh or Sanandaj.
