As the conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran continues, reports from cities across Iranian Kurdistan reveal a growing crackdown on Kurdish civilians and activists, amid heavy security measures.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary Basij forces have set up checkpoints at the entry and exit points of Kurdish cities, conducting vehicle searches and arresting several individuals. The detainees have been transferred to undisclosed locations.
Sources indicate that in response to continued Israeli airstrikes on military sites, IRGC and police units have abandoned their bases in some cities and villages in Kurdistan, relocating to government buildings.
Meanwhile, a significant deployment of plain-clothes security personnel dispatched from other provinces has been observed in the streets of Kurdish cities. These forces have detained individuals they deem suspicious without presenting judicial warrants.
The IRGC Intelligence Organisation and the Ministry of Intelligence have also been summoning and interrogating family members of Kurdish political activists living abroad, pressuring and threatening them in an attempt to coerce their relatives into halting their overseas activism.
In recent days, at least 11 Kurdish civilians and activists have been detained in Bukan, Mahabad and Piranshahr as the wave of arrests continues.
On 18 June, security forces arrested Ali Mohammadi, the father of Shahriyar Mohammadi, who was killed during the anti-government ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ uprising.
The following day, 19 June, saw the arrest of Esmaeil Esmaeilpour in Bukan; Aryan Mashayekhi and Sadegh Mahmoudnezhad, who had sustained eye injuries during the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ uprising, were arrested in Piranshahr; and two brothers, Edris and Kamran Rasouli, were arrested in Oshnavieh.
On 20 June, security forces arrested Rahman Hosseini and Ahmad Mam-Sharifi in Piranshahr.
On 22 June, Saadoun Ghazali (60), and Khaled and Mohammad Bekri, both from Mahabad, were arrested by security forces at their homes in the city.
According to KHRN, most of these arrests were conducted violently and without judicial authorisation, and the current whereabouts and conditions of the detainees remain unknown.
