Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Investigations carried out by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) show that many Kurdish civilians and activists from Iran have become victims of human rights violations in November 2021.

The followings are the detailed information collected by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) statistics and documentation centre regarding these violations.

Executions

On 3 November, Iran executed a prisoner named Manouchehr Kazemi in Ghezel Hesar Prison of Kermanshah.

Kazemi, who was from Harsin in Kurdistan province, was sentenced to the death penalty on charges of premeditated murder.

This is the only case in which the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed through its sources. But the number of those executed is likely to be higher.

Femicide

Statistics suggest that at least four women were killed by men in Iranian Kurdistan in the past month.

Two women were killed by the men they refused to marry. One was shot by her husband for an unknown reason, while another was killed in a family dispute.

Three of the cases took place in Kermanshah province and one in Hamedan.

Kolbars and Tradesmen

In November, at least 14 Kurdish civilians either died or were injured working as kolbars.

Iranian border forces shot at least 11 kolbars in the country’s western borders, killing 10 and wounding another.

On 17 November, a child kolbar committed suicide after border forces confiscated his mules in Paveh, Kermanshah province.

A Kurdish tradesman also lost his life in the border areas of Orumiyeh on 2 November.

Also, a landmine explosion in Hangeh-ye Zhal village in Baneh, Kurdistan province, injured a kolbar on 14 November.

Worker Accidents

During November, at least five workers lost their lives in work accidents in Marivan in Kurdistan province, Salas-e Babajani in Kermanshah province, and Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province.

Detentions and Arrests

In November, Iranian security forces detained at least 42 people, including two children, a journalist, and six activists in various cities across Iranian Kurdistan.

Four of these people were jailed in prisons in Orumiyeh, Mahabad, and Bukan.

Prison Sentences

In the past month, Iranian courts sentenced at least five people to prison sentences varying from one to 10 years in prison.

Anti-trafficking Forces Kill Kurdish Civilian

On 7 November, a Kurdish civilian named Farhad Zandi was shot dead by anti-trafficking forces on the Sanandaj-Dehgolan road.

A relative of Zandi told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that a special patrol of the anti-trafficking department near Qeruchay village of Dehgolan opened fire on Zandi’s car.

“He was not carrying any [smuggled] goods, and he was shot in the head and killed on the spot”, the relative added.

Kurdish Prisoner ‘Tortured to Death’, says family

On 2 November, a Kurdish prisoner named Khosrow Jamalifar lost his life in Sanandaj prison. The prisoner’s family claimed that he was tortured to death by prison officers. Prison authorities denied the claim, citing suicide by taking pills as the cause of the prisoner’s death.

Jamalifar, 26, who was in Sanandaj prison for about two years on “murder” charges, was severely beaten by prison officers on 2 November after fighting with several other prisoners. They then transferred him to solitary confinement.

Kurdish Civilians Likely Tortured to Death

On 15 November, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Naqadeh, West Azerbaijan province, summoned the families of two Kurdish civilians As’ad Ramin and Davoud Rahimi and informed them that the two civilians had been shot dead during their detention.

Earlier, however, reports were published saying that the two men had been detained wounded on 1 September after IRGC forces opened fire at their car. They were likely killed under torture.

Security forces refused to return the bodies to their families and barred them from holding public funerals.

Kurdish Asylum-seeker dies due to illness

On 22 November, a 25-year-old asylum-seeker named Bakhtiyar Musazadeh lost his life due to illness after arriving in Germany.

Reportedly, the young man fell ill while passing through Belarus in the cold weather.