Security forces have arrested four Kurdish men without warrants in Bukan, Piranshahr, Sanandaj and Bojnurd in recent days.
The detainees – Hamed Shami, Sabah Aminian, Foad Mohammadi and Araz Salehi – were transferred to undisclosed locations following their arrests, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
On 10 July, agents from the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Shami during a raid on his home in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province. Shami had previously been detained for 25 days several years ago and was later released on bail.
Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Aminian at his workplace in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, on 13 July, and Mohammadi in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, the following day.
On 15 July, security agents raided the home of a 14-year-old Kurmanji Kurdish boy in the village of Naveh in Bojnurd, North Khorasan Province, intending to arrest him after videos of him reciting poetry at cultural events began circulating online.
The child was not found, but the officers searched the house and seized the family’s mobile phones, and arrested his father, Araz Salehi, without a warrant.
Since the Israeli attack on Iran and the subsequent announcement of a ceasefire, over 315 Kurdish activists and other citizens have been arrested across the provinces of Ilam, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Tehran and North Khorasan 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, Tehran and Bojnurd.
