Kurdish child ‘tortured for murder confession’ after IRGC Intelligence arrest

Arjin Jondi, a 16-year-old Kurdish child from the village of Kuper in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province, has been arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is being tortured and pressured into making a forced confession to involvement in the killing of an IRGC member, an informed source in Piranshahr told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

The source said: “After his father died, the 16-year-old lived with his uncle’s family in the village of Kuper. On the evening of 11 September, an IRGC member named Eslam Kak-Darvishi was killed in the village when unidentified armed individuals opened fire on him.”

According to the source, following the killing, Kak-Darvishi’s family destroyed the home of Jondi’s uncle and claimed that the child had been involved in his killing. However, a group called Khori Hiwa had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The source said Jondi had travelled to another village to visit his mother when he was summoned to the local office of the IRGC Intelligence Organisation in Piranshahr on 12 September. He reported to the office accompanied by a family member and was subsequently arrested.

Around the time of his arrest, Iranian state media reported that IRGC Intelligence Organisation forces had arrested the “killer” of the IRGC member, but did not identify the arrested individual.

The source added that Jondi has been denied access to a lawyer and family visits since his arrest and is being tortured and pressured into confessing to involvement in the killing.