On Tuesday, July 4, security forces arrested Salahedin Khadiv (journalist and Civil activist) in Mahabad and transferred him to an unknown location. His family’s persistent enquiries about the reason for his arrest and whereabouts have not been answered yet.
“At 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4, the security forces searched Dr.Khadiv’s pharmacy in Mahabad and confiscated a number of his personal belongings before arresting him”, an informed source in Mahabad told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
According to this source, over the past few days, Khadiv’s family members have referred to the court and intelligence office of Mahabad to enquire about Khadiv’s fate, but so far none of the security agents have given them a clear answer.
In the past few days, some social networks and news agencies have reported that Salahedin Khadiv had been detained by the Intelligence Forces of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, an informed source has reported that he had been arrested by the Orumiyeh Intelligence Forces and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh for interrogation.
Salahedin Khadiv is a Kurdish political analyst and activist from the town of Mahabad. He is the former director of the Ravangeh student journal by Tabriz University OF Medical Science. Lately, he was also the director of the Telegram Channel called “Shaarnameh” in which analyses and articles on social, political and religious issues are published.
Recently, Khadiv has responded to the statements of Ghazi pour (Orumiyeh’s extremist representative in the parliament) regarding the arrest of a number of Kurdish citizens in the southern Azerbaijan cities following the deadly attacks of Tehran. Khadiv stated that the remarks of Orumiyeh’s representative was completely unjustifiable and illegal. He also said that such statements were unexpected from an extremist representative to put forward such arguments in a multi-ethnic and sensitive potential province such as Azerbaijan, considering his previous ethnic remarks.
In this regard, in an open letter to the governor and the Head of Judiciary of West Azerbaijan province on Sunday, July 9th, a group of writers and political civil activists called for an end to the illegal arrest of Salahedin Khadiv.
The letter was signed by 59 journalists, writers and civil political activists who demanded the authorities to clarify the charges leading to the arrest of Dr Khadiv as soon as possible. They also asked for restoration of his basic legal rights, including contact with the family, access to a lawyer and trial.
