Ministry of Intelligence forces have shot dead three members of a Kurdish family from Sanandaj on the Baneh–Marivan road in Kurdistan Province.
Mehdi Tavakkoli, director of the Kurdistan Photographers’ House (Khaneh-ye Akasan-e Kurdistan), his sister Somayyeh Tavakkoli, a psychologist, and their mother, Maryam Aslani, were killed instantly in the shooting.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the family were travelling in a Samand car on the evening of 26 July when Ministry of Intelligence forces opened fire directly on their vehicle.
Security agencies subsequently summoned the family and said they would release the bodies for burial only if the family refrained from publicising the incident, informed sources said.
The agencies also pressured the family to state that the three had died in a “road accident”.
Meanwhile, Iranian state news agencies reported that four members of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) had been killed after Border Regiment and Ministry of Intelligence forces opened fire on a Samand car in Baneh County.
The funeral of the three citizens was held on 27 July at Behesht-e Mohammadi cemetery in Sanandaj, attended by relatives and members of Kurdistan’s artistic community.
Despite the heavy presence of security forces, the words “Martyr of Kurdistan” were written on temporary markers placed on their graves.
Mehdi Tavakkoli, a well-known Kurdish photographer, had previously been arrested and convicted over his activities.
On 12 October 2016, he was arrested by security forces in Sanandaj, and after 35 days of interrogation at the Ministry of Intelligence detention facility, he was transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison and later temporarily released on bail.
In July 2017, Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj sentenced him to two years in prison on charges of “acting against national security”.
Security forces arrested Tavakkoli again in November 2019. He was temporarily released on bail after around one month in detention.
