Kurdistan Human Rights Network

After several days of relentless efforts by environmental activists and teams dispatched from various cities in Kurdistan, the raging wildfires that devastated the forests of Marivan, Kurdistan province, continue to pose a significant challenge. In an interview with the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), one of the environmental activists present in the affected area confirmed the presence of a human element in the extensive wildfires,...

Security forces have arrested Kurdish civilians Vali Mohseni and Alan Ardeshiri in Abadan, Ilam province, and Marivan, Kurdistan province, in recent days, and taken them to undisclosed locations. Ardeshiri was arrested by security forces at his home in Marivan on 2 August without a judicial warrant. In a separate incident, on 1 August, Mohseni, a resident of Murmuri, in Ilam province, was summoned to the Abadan...

Security forces opened fire on the vehicle of Pouria Ahmadi, a former political prisoner and civil rights activist, as he was traveling from Sanandaj to Marivan on 1 August. After forcing the car to stop, security forces arrested Ahmadi, his wife Sahar Ahmadi, and their child Barzin Ahmadi, and took them to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province. The Kurdistan Human Rights...

Rahim Shamei, a Kurdish civilian who was arrested during anti-government protests in Mahabad, West Azerbaijan province, following the government's killing of Jina Mahsa Amini, has been detained in a state of uncertainty for eight months. According to a source familiar with the case, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) summoned and arrested him on 1 December 2022, after he appeared at...

Prisoners Mohammad Javad Akbari, Sharif Akbari and Kianoush Teymouri were executed today for drug-related offences in Parsiloun Prison of Khorramabad, Lorestan province. The three prisoners were transferred to solitary confinement for execution on 29 July. Mohammad Javad Akbari and Kianoush Teymouri were from Kuhdasht, Lorestan province, and Sharif Akbari was from Nurabad, Lorestan province.

The whereabouts of Kurdish civilians Morad Rasoul Tajgardoun and Mohammad Choukal, who were arrested by security forces in the cities of Orumiyeh and Naqadeh in West Azerbaijan province a few days ago, are still unknown. Tajgardoun, 26, was arrested without a court order in Naqadeh on 29 July and taken to an undisclosed location. Also on 30 July, Choukal, an artist and director of the Choukal...

Hadi Rostami, a prisoner sentenced to amputation has warned that his sentence may soon be carried out, according to a message he released from Orumiyeh Central Prison. Hadi Rostami, who was arrested in 2017 on theft charges and sentenced to amputation of four fingers on his right hand, has been moved to various prisons across Iran six times over the past few years and claims...

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...

Dozens of villagers in Agh Dareh Vasta, in Takab, West Azerbaijan province, were detained by Iranian police on 30 July during a violent crackdown on their protest for job opportunities. The villagers had gathered in front of the local gold mine to demand that provincial officials fulfil their promises of employing local workers in the mine. The police fired on the protestors, injuring at least three...