Kurdistan Human Rights Network

The recent protests were among the most widespread in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran and were met with a bloody and unprecedented crackdown. At the height of the unrest on 8 and 9 January 2026, thousands of citizens were killed by gunfire from military-security forces and thousands more were injured.

Although the protests have relatively and perhaps temporarily subsided due to the violent suppression, security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran have, from the outset of these events until now, placed widespread arrests of citizens on their agenda.

Reports received from various cities across Iran indicate that more than 2,000 Kurdish citizens have been arrested. In many cases, arrests were carried out without judicial warrants and involved severe violence and beatings.

The Ministry of Intelligence, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the police have all played roles in the mass arrests.

A two-week internet shutdown, followed by continued disruptions, alongside threats and pressure against the families of detainees, has severely restricted access to accurate information about the identities of detainees and their latest status.

Security institutions have pressured families, through threats, intimidation and even promises of release, to refrain from speaking publicly about the situation of their loved ones.

Amid these restrictions, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has, since the beginning of the protests, succeeded in registering and verifying the identities of 470 Kurdish citizens who have been arrested by various security bodies. The fate of most of them remains unknown.

During the same period, some individuals were subjected to enforced disappearance by security agents during the protests. Despite repeated inquiries by families, security bodies and judicial authorities have refused to provide information about their whereabouts or legal status.

Arrests have taken place not only during protests but also in the hours and days that followed. Many were detained at their homes, workplaces or in streets and public spaces after being identified by security forces.

In some cases, injured protesters were arrested after seeking treatment at medical centres, while some others were detained for attending memorial ceremonies.

Some family members of those killed have also been arrested for pursuing information or speaking about the deaths of their family members.

Interviews conducted by KHRN with families and recently released detainees indicate that hundreds of Kurdish citizens were transferred from security detention centres to quarantine wards in general prisons after interrogation in detention centres of the Public Security Police, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the IRGC Intelligence Organisation in various cities. They remain in prolonged uncertainty.

Families of some of these individuals, who were able to visit their loved ones after weeks without information, reported torture against detainees and stated that during arrest and after transfer to detention centres, they were subjected to severe torture by security interrogators to obtain forced confessions. According to these families, methods of torture included threats of sexual assault, threats to arrest family members, mock executions, beatings with cables, burning with irons, nail extraction and other forms of violent treatment.

According to the findings of the KHRN, media affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence and IRGC’s Basij forces have published forced confessions of 13 Kurdish citizens detained in the cities of Ilam, Eyvan, Esfarayen, Malekshahi, Chavar, Kermanshah and Tehran.

Some of these individuals, who were transferred to prison quarantine after interrogation, have rejected these confessions in telephone calls to their families and stated that under severe physical and psychological torture they were compelled to repeat statements dictated by security interrogators.

At least 10 of these citizens have also been verbally informed that they face the charge of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), an offence that can lead to heavy sentences including the death penalty. However, they have not been formally charged, and families’ efforts to obtain information about their cases have so far been unsuccessful.

Despite families’ insistence on introducing defence lawyers, public and revolutionary prosecutor’s offices have refused to accept privately chosen lawyers, stating that court-appointed counsel will be assigned later.

KHRN investigations indicate that although some of these citizens have been released in recent days on bail, the fate of most detainees remains unknown, and all of them have been denied access to lawyers and contact with their families since the time of arrest.

The family of one detained Kurdish woman told KHRN that although she was transferred to the quarantine ward of the women’s section of a prison from the first hours of her arrest, she is taken daily to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre for interrogation. She was arrested for publishing an Instagram story in support of the protests and, in her only brief phone call since arrest, informed her family of pressure from interrogators to make forced confessions.

Moreover, according to obtained information, more than 100 Kurdish children have been arrested, and the KHRN has been able to register the identities of only 28 of them. Some of these children have been transferred to juvenile detention centres and remain in custody under temporary detention orders in a state of uncertainty.

Families of several detainees have also told the KHRN that their loved ones were arrested by security bodies while receiving medical treatment after being wounded by live ammunition and pellet shots. Efforts to obtain information about their fate have so far been unsuccessful.

Additionally, at least two Kurdish citizens who were recently released stated that they saw some injured protesters in prison quarantine held in difficult conditions without access to medical services and basic facilities, in rooms holding several times their official capacity.

Despite the arrest of hundreds of Kurdish citizens, the risk of further arrests remains. According to received information, some individuals suspected of participating in the protests have been living in hiding for weeks due to the risk of arrest, and their locations may be identified at any time. The continuation of this situation has placed these individuals and their families in extremely difficult and anxious circumstances.

At the same time, continuous searches and follow-ups by security forces to arrest protesters have led some injured individuals to refrain from seeking medical treatment out of fear of arrest. Information obtained by KHRN indicates that lack of access to medical services has placed the health and even the lives of injured individuals at serious risk. Those wounded by live ammunition and pellet shots are in particularly vulnerable conditions.

In recent days, reports have emerged that a Kurdish citizen died as a result of torture while in detention at the detention centre of a security body in Bandar Abbas. However, the KHRN has not yet been able to verify it.

The names and information of 470 Kurdish citizens arrested during the protests are published below. It should be noted that this list does not include all detainees and will be updated as more information becomes available.