Karim Asghari, a former political prisoner and the brother-in-law of Warisha Moradi, a Kurdish political prisoner on death row, was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents in Shuyesheh, in Sanandaj County, Kurdistan Province, on 8 June.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported that security agents raided Asghari’s shop and violently arrested him, transferring him to an undisclosed location.

His wife, Mehraneh Moradi – sister of Warisha Moradi – was also threatened with arrest upon arriving at the scene.

Members of Moradi’s family have faced repeated summons by the Ministry of Intelligence in both Sanandaj and Tehran since her arrest.

Asghari and his wife were previously arrested in autumn 2018 by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and were provisionally released on bail after spending several months in custody.

Warisha Moradi, a Kurdish activist and member of the East Kurdistan Free Women Society (KJAR) from Sanandaj, was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence on 1 August 2023 at the entrance to Sanandaj upon her return from Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, where she had been involved in political and organisational activities.

Her arrest was carried out violently and involved gunfire by Ministry of Intelligence agents.

She spent the first 13 days of her detention in the detention centre of this security institution in Sanandaj, and afterwards was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran.

During this period, she was subjected to pressure and threats to make forced confessions, and on 26 December 2023, after five months of solitary confinement, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.

Branch 15 of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghassem Salavati, sentenced Moradi to death on charges of “armed insurrection” (baghi) through membership of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).