Kurdish shopkeepers face arrests, shop closures over anniversary strike

Security agencies have summoned and arrested dozens of Kurdish shopkeepers and market traders for joining a strike across cities in Kurdistan on 16 September, marking the fourth anniversary of Jina Amini’s state killing and the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising.

The agencies involved include the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence.

Authorities have also temporarily sealed businesses under judicial orders and forced some shop keepers and traders to sign written pledges not to join future strikes.

A shopkeeper in Kamyaran told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that, on the evening of 16 September, following a widespread strike on Toubrehriz Street, IRGC Intelligence telephoned several shopkeepers and market traders who had closed their businesses that day, summoning them to its local office.

The source said officers ordered them to report within hours or face the closure of their businesses. Several traders went to the office late that night following the threats.

Once there, officers threatened to open judicial cases against them. An elderly shopkeeper who objected was beaten and insulted in front of the others. Those summoned were then made to sign written pledges not to take part in similar strikes in future.

As the pressure on traders in Kamyaran continued, Ministry of Intelligence forces violently arrested at least six shopkeepers. KHRN knows their identities but is withholding their names.

Two were released from Kamyaran Prison on 19 September, while the other four remain in detention and despite their families’ efforts to obtain information, their whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

A source in Sanandaj said Ministry of Intelligence forces arrested at least four market traders during the 16 September strike for taking part.

Other shopkeepers were summoned to the police department responsible for supervising business premises, where they were threatened and forced to sign written pledges.

KHRN has learned that dozens of shops in Sanandaj and Saqqez were sealed under judicial orders following the strike.

On 15 September, the day before the strike, websites and Telegram channels affiliated with security agencies in various cities across Kurdistan published a notice attributed to those agencies, threatening shopkeepers and market traders against taking part.

The notice stated: “Any support or cooperation by shopkeepers and trade associations with counter-revolutionary elements during the recent calls for action will result in their shops being sealed for six months and judicial action against the shop owners.”