At least 12 Kurdish civilians and activists have been arrested by security forces in recent days as part of an escalating crackdown across multiple provinces, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
The arrests, which took place in Bukan, Mahabad, Piranshahr, Kamyaran and Damavand, follow the recent Israeli attack on Iran and the announcement of a ceasefire.
On 10 July, security forces arrested Zobeyr Mahmoudi, Aziz Khezri and his son Zanyar Khezri in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province, and took them to undisclosed locations.
The following day, on 11 July, Salah Bahamin and Kamran Rawaz were arrested in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, and Mansour Rahimi was detained in the village of Khorkhoreh in Mahabad.
On 12 July, pharmacy student Ayoub Shaghaghi was stopped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Bukan while travelling with his wife and child. He was arrested without a court order and taken to an undisclosed location.
On the same day, Sajjad Haeri, a Kurdish writer from Ilam, Ilam Province, and the brother of political prisoner Ahmadreza Haeri, was arrested at his family home in Damavand, Tehran Province.
Also on 12 July, Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Mohammad Allah-Rezaei in Dehgolan, Kurdistan Province, Esmaeil Choukali in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, and Ferya Chawshini in the village of Dashband near Bukan.
Zanyar Mohammadzadeh, a former detainee from the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising, was also arrested on 12 July at his family home by Ministry of Intelligence agents.
Since the Israeli attack on Iran and the subsequent announcement of a ceasefire, over 306 Kurdish civilians and activists have been arrested across the provinces of Ilam, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Tehran by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In addition, dozens of civilians, civil rights activists, former political prisoners, and relatives of activists residing abroad have been summoned to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC’s Intelligence Organisation and interrogated for several hours.
Although judicial authorities have stated that some detainees have been released on bail, information obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) indicates that most remain in custody without access to lawyers or family visits in central detention centres run by security agencies in Ilam, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Orumiyeh and Tehran.
