Arrest 

Amirhossein Haghjouyan, the cousin and close friend of Reza Rasaei—a Yarsani Kurdish civilian and one of the detainees from the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising—was arrested on 23 September 2024, by agents of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at his family’s plant nursery in Sahneh, Kermanshah Province.  

This comes after Rasaei was executed in August 2024 on charges of “involvement in the murder” of a security official. 

Defendant’s Rights 

He was arrested without a warrant and has since been denied family visits and access to legal representation.   

Current Status 

On 3 October, Haghjouyan was transferred from the Nabi Akram Detention Centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, to Dizel Abad Prison in the city, and was provisionally released on bail on 5 October.

Notes: 

1. Reza Rasaei, a 35-year-old Yarsani Kurdish civilian, was executed in Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, without prior notification to his family or lawyer, and was denied a final meeting with his family. The security forces refused to release his body to the family for burial in his home town and instead buried him by force in Minaabad cemetery in Kermanshah, with only a few family members allowed to attend. 

2. Women, Life, Freedom Uprising: Jina Amini (Mahsa Amini), a 21-year-old Kurdish woman from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, was arrested on a street in Tehran on 13 September 2022 by the morality police because of the way she was dressed. Shortly after her arrest, she was transferred to Kasra Hospital in Tehran with head injuries and symptoms of brain death, and passed away three days later on 16 September 2022. The government’s killing of Jina sparked unprecedented anti-government protests, which began with a large turnout at her funeral at Aichi Cemetery in Saqqez and quickly spread to many cities across Iran. These widespread protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which lasted for several months, resulted in at least 527 protesters being killed and thousands injured and arrested. The protests are known for their central slogan of “Women, Life, Freedom” (Kurdish: Jin, Jiyan, Azadi).