Over the past 10 days, at least 18 Kurdish civilians have been detained in Iran ahead of the second anniversary of the popular uprising that followed the death of Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini two years ago.
The Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, has summoned 14 Kurdish teacher activists for questioning as the second anniversary of the anti-government Women, Life, Freedom uprising approaches, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported.
According to the report, the activists face charges of “assembly and collusion with the intent to disrupt national security”, “propaganda against the state”, and “disturbing public order”.
The individuals, all members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union in Sanandaj, are Nasrin Karimi, Fatemeh Zand-Karimi, Mohammadreza Moradi, Aram Ebrahimi, Sadegh Kanaani, Rizgar Heidari, Ghias Nemati, Majid Karimi, Salah Haji Mirzaei, Kourosh Ezzati Amini, Faysal Nouri, Reza Tahmasebi, Shahriar Naderi, and Behzad Ghavvami.
The activists have been ordered to appear for interrogation by 14 September at the latest.
In response to these summonses, the Coordination Council of Iranian Educators’ Association condemned the move, saying: “The Council strongly condemns these repressive measures and the ongoing efforts to silence the voices of teachers and union activists. It reaffirms the right of teachers to freedom of expression, protest, and union activities. The Council calls for an end to the repression and unfair trials and for the restoration of teachers’ union rights.”
Over the past 10 days, at least 18 Kurdish civilians have been detained by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organisation in the cities of Mahabad, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr and Bukan in West Azerbaijan Province, and Marivan, Sarvabad and Divandarreh in Kurdistan Province, and taken to the security detention centres of the two security services ahead of the second anniversary of the protests.
