A Kurdish environmental activist, who had previously been detained twice for taking part in demonstrations, has reportedly been arrested and taken to an unknown location by Iranian security forces.
Environmental activist Simko Maroufi, who is a member of the Welat Environmental Association, was arrested on 8 March, sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
The environmental activist was previously detained by security forces on 15 October 2019 during a protest rally in Bukan against the Turkish army’s offensive against the town of Serekaniye (also Ras al-Ayn) in Syrian Kurdistan. He was detained along with four other civil activists Shaho Khezri, Zhaka Esmaeilpour, Jalal Hassanzadeh, and Hooman Faizi, and was later released on a bail of 150 million Iranian Tomans – nearly 6,000 USD – after being interrogated.
On 6 December 2019, Branch 101 of the Criminal Court of Bukan sentenced Ma’roufi to two years in prison on charges of “disrupting public order” by participating in the protest rally condemning the Turkish army’s offensive on northern Syria – also known as Rojava. He was arrested on 3 February 2020 to serve his prison sentence and transferred to Bukan Prison, and was released in late November 2020.
