Security forces have arrested at least 13 Kurdish civilians and activists in recent days in Kermanshah, Sarpol-e Zahab, Sanandaj, Divandarreh, Bukan and Mahabad, three of whom have been sent to prison to serve their sentences, the Kurdistan Human Rights (KHRN) reported.

Additionally, four civilians, including two minors, arrested in a recent wave of arrests of Kurdish civilians and activists, have been provisionally released on bail.

In recent days, security forces arrested Armin Moradi, Mohammad Azizi, and Mohammad Yousefi in Kermanshah.

Following these arrests, the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Yousef Elyasi, Hamed Elyasi, Yousef Neyrizi, Komar Naderi, and Omar Babaei in Sarpol-e Zahab, Kermanshah Province, and took them to IRGC’s Nabi Akram detention facility in Kermanshah’s Naft Square (Meydan-e Naft).

Earlier, on 15 December 2024, Hemin Palani, Pouya Deljou, Mohammad Deljou, Aryam Ahmadi, Payam Ranjbar, Kaveh Sohrabi, Ayman Safaei, Omid Salehi, Yousef Ranjbar, and Khaled Kamari were also arrested simultaneously at their family homes and a restaurant in Sarpol-e Zahab.

These arrests, conducted without warrants, were carried out by IRGC Intelligence Organisation officers and the detainees were transferred to the Nabi Akram detention facility in Kermanshah, according to KHRN.

Several days later, another civilian, Mohammad Neyrizi, was arrested in the village of Saraw-e Garm in Sarpol-e Zahab and taken to the same IRGC intelligence detention centre in Kermanshah. Both he and Safaei, a minor, were released on bail pending further investigation.

All these detainees have thus far only been allowed a brief phone call with their families and remain deprived of their right to family visits and legal representation.

On 22 December 2024, the Sarpol-e Zahab Prosecutor General told state media that 12 people had been arrested on charges of belonging to what he referred to as a “Takfiri network” (excommunication network). He alleged that “the arrested members of this Takfiri network are 12 people who had been attempting to recruit young people in the region to join opposition groups through nightly meetings and by frequenting public spaces such as parks, offering various financial incentives over the past year.”

Separately, on 9 January, Behzad Barakhasi was arrested without a warrant by security forces in a street in Divandarreh, Kurdistan Province, and taken to an unknown location.

Two days later, on 11 January, Jiyan Miri, an environmental activist from the village of Tangi Sar in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, was also arrested without a warrant in the Mesnaw neighbourhood of Sanandaj and taken to an undisclosed location.

On 6 January, Srwa Shiri and Peyman Shiri, siblings from the village of Taraqeh in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, were sent to Bukan and Orumiyeh prisons to serve sentences issued earlier.

In December 2024, Branch 101 of Bukan’s Second Criminal Court sentenced Srwa to eight months of imprisonment and her brother Peyman to six months, both on charges of “propaganda activities against the state”.

Previously, on 25 September 2024, the siblings were arrested by security forces in their village and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Orumiyeh, and were released on bail pending trial several weeks later.

Additionally, Galawezh Mohammadi-Arshad, from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, who was previously sentenced to four months of imprisonment by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, presided over by Judge Sajjad Dousti, on charges of “propaganda against the state”, was summoned to serve her sentence. Following her arrest, she was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison on 12 January.

She was initially arrested on 14 August 2024 by Ministry of Intelligence forces in Mahabad and was taken to the Ministry’s detention facility in Orumiyeh, and was provisionally released on 27 August 2024 after posting bail set at seven billion rials (nearly 10,000 USD).

At least four detainees released

On 12 January, Rizgar Mowloudi and Kamyar Izadi, two 17-year-old boys from the village of Sahulan in Mahabad, were provisionally released from Orumiyeh’s Juvenile Detention Centre on bail after 13 days in detention.

These two minors were arrested on 31 December 2024 following a telephone summons to the Ministry of Intelligence office in Mahabad and were subsequently transferred to the Ministry’s detention centre in Orumiyeh.

Additionally, in recent days, Ebrahim Gol-Anbar, the brother of Esmail Gol-Anbar, who was killed during the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising in Javanrud, Kermanshah Province, and Hassan Hassanzadeh, a civilian from Javanrud, were provisionally released from Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah on bail.

The two were arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents on 25 December 2024 in Javanrud and Kermanshah, respectively.

Gol-Anbar was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence near Bisotun, Kermanshah Province, while returning from Tehran on 25 December 2024 and taken to the Meydan-e Naft detention facility in Kermanshah.

At the same time, Hassanzadeh, Gol-Anbar’s father-in-law from the village of Chamanzar in Javanrud, was arrested after being summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Javanrud.

After several weeks of interrogation at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Kermanshah’s Meydan-e Naft, the two were transferred to Dizel Abad Prison in Kermanshah.