Arrest

Mohyeddin Khaledian, a Kurdish civilian from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents at his workplace in the city on 29 January 2025.

Security forces later raided his family home, where they insulted family members and confiscated personal belongings, including photographs of his daughter Beritan Sna, a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who was killed in a Turkish air strike in 2022.

Defendant’s Rights

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

Despite his family’s repeated attempts to obtain information about his fate, security and judicial authorities have refused to provide any clarification regarding his situation.

Current Status

Khaledian is being held in the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj.

Notes:

1. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was founded in 1978 with the aim of creating a unified and independent Kurdistan. Although its origin and leadership were in the Kurdistan of Turkey, its activities gradually extended to other parts of Kurdistan, including Iranian Kurdistan. From its inception until the late 1990s, Marxism-Leninism was the dominant ideology of the party.

Abdullah Öcalan, known as Apo, the leader of the PKK, was captured in 1999 through a joint operation by the Turkish government and several other countries in Kenya. He is currently serving a life sentence in solitary confinement on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara.

Since 2000, influenced by Öcalan’s writings and ideas in prison, the PKK has aimed to establish “democratic confederalism” in the four parts of Kurdistan: Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, and works towards this goal. The headquarters of this party is in the mountainous border regions between the Kurdistan of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq.