More than 300 people arrested during the December 2025–January 2026 protests, remain in legal uncertainty in the “security” ward of Kermanshah Central Prison (Dizel Abad Prison), where they are being denied basic rights.
The detainees, who were arrested by military-security forces of the Islamic Republic during the protests and transferred to the prison in recent months, are being held alongside political prisoners in conditions marked by overcrowding, restrictions on contact with families and denial of medical care.
Interviews conducted by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) with several former detainees released after their arrest during the protests show that more than 500 people arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were transferred to the security ward after initial interrogations in detention facilities of the security services.
The ward, built in recent months, has about 20 rooms, each containing 12 beds. However, some prisoners are forced to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of space.
Protest detainees and political prisoners in the ward are denied family visits and are allowed only one limited telephone call with their families each week.
Prisoners are given only about half an hour of access to fresh air each day. The ward’s bathroom also has no hot water, forcing prisoners to wash with cold water.
Several detainees face serious charges, including “enmity against God” (moharebeh), which can carry the death penalty.
Ali-Ashraf Yar-Ahmadi and Vahid Ghanbari, who were arrested during the protests in Kermanshah, have had indictments issued against them on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh).
Several other detainees, among them Milad Nazari, Shahram Amini-Khah, Hamid Haji-Veysi and Milad Safari, were wounded during the protests by shotgun pellets fired by the Islamic Republic’s military-security forces, while others, including Morteza Azizi and Davoud Eghbali, sustained severe injuries as a result of torture.
Despite their poor physical condition, these detainees have so far been denied access to treatment and medical care.
Several Sunni Kurdish citizens from Javanrud and Sarpol-e Zahab in Kermanshah Province, who were arrested in previous years on charges of “membership of extremist religious groups” and sentenced to heavy prison terms and death, are also being held in the same ward.
Hossein Palani Jafi, Mohyeddin Abdollahi and Nour-Aziz Darabi, three citizens from Sarpol-e Zahab, were previously arrested in connection with the 2017 attack on the Islamic Consultative Assembly building.
In that case, Palani Jafi and Abdollahi were sentenced to death on charges of “enmity against God” (moharebeh), while Darabi was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Supreme Court has upheld the sentences, placing Palani Jafi and Abdollahi at imminent risk of execution.
Informed sources have reported continued harassment and abuse of prisoners and detainees by officers of the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organisation.
The sources said officers from the two military-security bodies regularly visit the ward and subject prisoners to torture, threats and harassment under various pretexts.
Detainees have also been pressured to conceal their identities in order to prevent information about their situation from being made public.
Families of prisoners face threats and pressure from security forces if they speak out about the condition of their loved ones.
