The Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released a statement concerning the Kurdish activists and students who have been detained by the regime forces in Iran.

The KNK statement includes the following:

“It is with great concern that we have learned that at least 11 Kurdish students and civil rights activists were recently detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the detainees have been identified as Farzad Samani, Sohaib Badrouj, Shapol Khezri, Darya Talabani, Salar Rahavi, Sirwan Nouri, Afshin Mam Ahmadi, Bahman Yousefzadeh, Farhad Musapour, Fereydoun Musapour and Dana Samadi. Most of the are from the cities of Karaj, Mahabad, Rabat and Marivan, and, according to their families, their current whereabouts are unknown.

Urgent political, diplomatic and legal action directed at the Iranian regime is needed to protect the lives of these people. Torture and ill-treatment of critics of the regime or members of opposition groups attempting to exercise their right to free speech is common practice in Iran, and the death penalty is imposed arbitrarily, often as a political weapon.

Iran pursues comprehensive, systematic anti-Kurdish policies. Apart from torture and ill treatment, the state also plunders and exploits of the natural resources of the Kurdish areas in Iran. The Iranian regime forces poverty upon the Kurds to drive them from Eastern Kurdistan, the part of Kurdistan within Iran’s borders. Last year alone, tens of Kurds carrying goods across the Iran’s borders, known as kolbars, were shot dead by Iranian security forces. Anyone who speaks out against the Iranian regime’s oppressive policies is arrested and detained, or disappears.

The international community must do everything possible to save the lives of the 11 recently detained Kurdish students and civil rights activists and ensure that their human rights are respected, and we request your urgent assistance before it is too late.”