Arrest

Saadollah Aeini, a Kurdish civilian from Dehloran, Ilam Province, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence forces at his home in the city on 14 February 2025.

The security forces stated that he was arrested for participating in the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising.

Following several weeks of interrogation and torture at the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention centre in Ilam aimed at extracting forced confessions, he was transferred to the city’s central prison.

Aeini was denied family visits and access to legal representation during his detention.

On 10 April 2023, he began a hunger strike alongside three other Kurdish civilians from Dehloran — Hossein Bapirvand, Farshad Aeini and Azim Yadegari — to protest their ongoing detention.

Judicial Process

During proceedings relating to a joint case connected to the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ uprising in January 2024, he was sentenced to a total of 12 years and one day in prison by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Ilam.

The charges included “disrupting public order and peace” and “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit a crime against the security of the country”.

Current Status

Aeini was arrested at his family home in Dehloran on 1 March 2025, and transferred to Ilam Central Prison to begin serving his prison sentence.

Notes:

1. 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).

2. Article 618 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Anyone who, through uproar, commotion, unconventional behaviour, or harassment of individuals, disrupts public order and peace or prevents people from engaging in their work, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months to one year and up to 74 lashes.”

3. Article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code: “If two or more individuals gather and conspire to commit crimes against the internal or external security of the country or to facilitate the means for committing such crimes, they shall be sentenced to two to five years’ imprisonment, unless they are considered mohareb (those who commit enmity against God).”