Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has arrested at least five Kurdish labour activists in the scope of the new wave of arrests in Sanandaj, in Kurdistan province.
The ministry summoned and detained the activists named Eghbal Shabani on 9 February and Hajar Saeidi, Fardin Miraki, Issa Moradi, and Ramin Karimi on 10 February.
A new wave of arrests and summonses of Kurdish labour activists was launched two weeks ago and continues to this day, during which at least three labour activists have been arrested and their fate remains unknown.
Activists Khabat Shakiba, Rebwar Abdollahi, and Khabat Dehdar were arrested by security forces in Sanandaj on 27 and 30 January and 8 February, respectively.
These labour activists and trade union members have been repeatedly summoned and detained by security forces or sentenced to prison terms over the past few years.
On 7 June 2020, security forces arrested Saeidi, who is also a women’s rights activist, in Sanandaj. She was released on bail 18 days later.
In August 2020, she was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security” through “membership in the Communist Party of Iran (Komala)” as well as participating in “illegal” gatherings and associating with labour activists.
Saeidi’s prison sentence has been suspended for a period of four years.
During this period, this woman activist must report to the office of the intelligence ministry in Sanandaj once every four months.
Shabani, a labour activist and inspector of the Sanandaj Bakers’ Union, was arrested by security forces in Sanandaj on 18 February 2019 and was released on 100 million Tomans bail – nearly 4,000 USD – 25 days later.
In May 2019, Branch 1 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj sentenced him to one year suspended imprisonment – for a period of three years – on charges of “collaborating with dissident parties”.
Mirki was also arrested by security forces in Sanandaj on 22 November 2014. He was released after two months of detention on 100 million Tomans bail – nearly 4,000 USD.
The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj then sentenced him to nine months in prison on charges of “acting against national security” by being a member of the Coordinating Committee for the Establishment of Trade Unions.
