Iranian security forces have continued mass arrest of Kurdish rights activists after Newroz New Year was celebrated in its Kurdish form in the Sanandaj area on 19 March and onwards, a source from the area told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
“Iranian security forces have continued mass arrest of Kurdish activists in the Sanandaj area following Kurdish Newroz New Year celebration on 19 March in the village of Qasriyan, which is near the city of Sanandaj,” the source said.
“Miad Ahmadi, a Kurdish activist from Sanandaj, was arrested at his home On 30 March, and after a 24-hour interrogation at the Intelligence Office of Sanandaj he was transferred to the city’s central prison. The intelligence officers in Sanandaj also summoned Sohila Mohammadi, a female Kurdish activist working in the Sanandaj area,” the source said.
Ten of the detained activists were temporarily released after interrogations at the city’s Intelligence Office and only Miad Ahmadi has remained in jail, according to the local source.
“In the early morning of 19 March, Anwar Saed Mucheshi, a Kurdish lawyer and a previous political prisoner, was arrested at his home in Sanandaj, and he was released in the evening after he had been interrogated at the city’s intelligence office. Meanwhile, Foad Mohammadi, Sara Milani, Ladan Sohrabi and Shahla Wakili were arrested on 26 March but they later released on a bail of 15 to 20 million Iranian Tuman,” the source said.
The local source spoke to KHRN on condition of anonymity and said that “three brothers, Jahangir Wakili, Jahanbakhsh Wakili and Mokhtar Wakili, were arrested but released 48 hours later. They are family members of Farhard Wakili, a Kurdish political prisoner executed by the Iranian government in 2010”.
The source confirmed that “two other Kurdish activists, Masud Mohammadi and Akbar Goweyli, were arrested on 24 March and released on a 150-million Tuman bail two days later”.
The source said: “Masud Mohammadi was severely beaten at the detention center at the time of arrest.”
Thousands of Kurds including members of the Mothers for Peace organization and families of killed Kurdish fighters gathered and celebrated Newroz New Year in the village of Qasriyan near the city of Sanandaj on 19 March.
Local sources told KHRN that the Iranian security forces tried to intrude the event but they were not able to do because of thousands of people had taken part in the celebration.
However, Iranian security forces blocked the main road between the village and the city Sanandaj after the event, and they stopped cars, searched the people and beat some of who had gone to participate in the Newroz event.
The Iranian security forces had also used various versions of tear gas on the main road to Sanandaj and mass arrests of the Kurdish activists had begun just after the Newroz New Year celebration had ended in the area.
