Kurdistan Human Rights Network

The Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Reza Babrnezhad, the brother of Mehdi Babrnezhad, who was killed during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Quchan, Razavi Khorasan Province. Babrnezhad was arrested without a warrant after IRGC intelligence agents raided his house on 11 August. During the raid, security forces reportedly broke windows and confiscated Babrnezhad's personal belongings. The charges brought against Babrnezhad and...

Farhad Navaei, a 16-year-old student who was arrested by security forces during anti-government protests in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, in November last year, was released today from the Juvenile Detention Centre of Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province. Navaei, who was recently sentenced to two years in prison by the Criminal Court One of Mahabad, was released after about nine months in detention. The court had charged the...

Four Kurdish civilians from Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, who were arrested during last year's anti-government protests, have been charged with "enmity against God" (moharebeh) and face the death penalty. These individuals, Keyvan Zandi, Aram Azad, Sardar Shah-Moradi, and Houshang Chahar-Gorgeh, are currently being held in temporary detention in Sanandaj Central Prison. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the four civilians were arrested separately by...

The trial of Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer representing the family of Jina Mahsa Amini, which was scheduled to take place today, has been postponed due to administrative issues. Nikbakht is facing charges of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic system" for speaking out against the opinion of the Forensic Medicine Commission regarding Amini's death in an interview with foreign media and Etemad newspaper. Amini died in police...

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence yesterday summoned and interrogated five family members of Azad Hosseinpouri, who was killed by security forces during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, last November. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the Ministry of Intelligence interrogated the family members for several hours about their social media activities and ordered them to appear for further...

Fifty-five attorneys of Bukan's judiciary, in north-west Iran, have been summoned to Branch Two of the city's Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office due to signing a statement in support of the family of Jina Mahsa Amini, following a complaint from Ali Zahed, the prosecutor of Bukan. In mid-September 2022, after the government's killing of Jina Mahsa Amini, a group of attorneys from Bukan's judiciary had...

Branch 101 of the Criminal Court Two of Bukan, West Azerbaijan province, sentenced Hashem Saedi, the father of Sarina Saedi, one of the victims of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, to six and a half months in prison and 40 lashes. The verdict was delivered to Saedi after he appeared at the Bukan court on 3 July, charging him with "disturbing...

Prominent women’s rights activist and journalist Zhina Modares Gorji was today temporarily released from the Juvenile Detention Centre of Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, after 84 days of detention on a hefty bail of 50 billion Iranian rials, nearly 100,000 USD. During his detention, he was transferred to the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office in Sanandaj several times and was charged with "collaborating with a hostile state",...

Babak Karimi, a Kurdish civilian who was arrested by security forces during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Eyvan-e Gharb in Ilam province and released on bail after a few months, has been sentenced to a total of nine years in prison. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the protester was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "assembly and...