Category: Ethnic Minorities

Checkpoints & Inspection Stations Throughout Western Provinces

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Ethnic Minorities
Naleh Shakineh

HRANA News Agency – During the last few days, Iranian security and military forces have been placed on alert in different regions of Kermanshah Province and the city of Kamyaran.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), military forces have been positioned in all roads leading into and out of Kermanshah and Kamyaran.Furthermore, checkpoints and inspection stations have been set up between these locations and the neighboring cities. The heavy presence of security forces has created a tense military atmosphere throughout these regions.

Plain clothes agents working for the Intelligence Bureau of IRGC have been stopping vehicles and conducting searches and interrogations in Naleh Shakineh Road, Shamshir Road, the gates leading into the cities of Paveh and Nosod and also along Ghazanchi Highway.
It has been reported that plain clothes agents ambush vehicles at night throughout the region to perform searches and question the passengers.As a result, a tense atmosphere of fear and apprehension hangs over Iran’s western provinces.In several incidents, native Basiji Militia members with concealed faces have harassed and insulted passengers and local residents.

Kurdish Activists Still Held in Solitary Confinement

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Ethnic Minorities
Behrooz Darvand, Ezad Aldin Heidari, Farhad Vakili Nia, Farzad Haghshenas, Jamal Khani, Maryam Amini, Maziar Mohammadi, Naeem Najafi, Sajad Jahanfard, Sharif Bajour, Sina Bijanpour

HRANA News Agency – Although several months have passed since a number of Kurdish political and social activists and literary intellectuals have been arrested in different cities throughout Kurdistan, they are still behind bars held in a legal state of limbo in solitary confinement.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the following individuals are locked up in isolation cells in the Intelligence Agency’s Detention Center (Maydan Naft) in Kermanshah since August 5, 2011 and are being pressured to confess to having connections with Kurdish parties:
 

  • Sajad Jahanfard, an author and a scholar and researcher
  • Farhad Vakili Nia
  • Ezad Aldin Heidari
  • Maziar Mohammadi


The following four other social activists and literary intellectuals who were arrested at the same time have been released on bail approximately equal to $50,000:

 

  • Maryam Amini
  • Naeem Najafi
  • Jamal Khani
  • Sina Bijanpour


Farzad Haghshenas is another Kurdish activist from the city of Marivan. He was arrested in front of his shop on May 11, 2011 and is still in solitary confinement in Intelligence Agency’s Detention Center. Although more than 3 months have passed, no charges have been filed against him.He has been allowed to see him mother and brother only for a few minutes during this time.

Sharif Bajour is a Kurdish environmentalist and a member of Management Council for Green Chya Forum in Marivan, Kurdistan Province.He was summoned to the Intelligence Agency’s office in Marivan and subsequently arrested on July 23, 2011 when he complied with the order.
Behrooz Darvand and Iraj Ghaderi were also arrested on July 23, 2011 by security forces in the city of Marivan.These three Kurdish environmentalists and members of Management Council for Green Chya Forum still remain in police custody.Behrooz Darvand and Iraj Ghaderi have been transferred from Intelligence Agency’s Detention Center to Marivan Prison.
 

No News of Three Kurds Arrested in Maku

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Ethnic Minorities
Ibrahim Kachlani, Khosro Jafari, Naser Jafari

HRANA News Agency – Three citizens have been arrested by the security forces in the city of Maku, West Azerbaijan Province.

According to a report by Mukrian News Agency, Khosro Jafari, Naser Jafari and Ibrahim Kachlani were arrested more than one month ago.Iranian judiciary has not announced a reason for these arrests thus far.However, it has been reported that these three individuals have been charged with helping one of the opposition groups.
 

Continued Lack of Information about the Condition of a Kurdish Teenager

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Ethnic Minorities
Yunis Sheikh Ahmadi

HRANA – The family of a Kurdish teenager named “Yunis Sheikh Ahmadi” who was arrested by security forces in the city of Sanandaj are extremely worried as the lack of information about his condition continues.
According to reports received by HRANA, on Thursday, May 13, on one of the streets in the city of Sanandaj, police and security forces began to beat a Kurdish teenager named “Yunis Sheikh Ahmadi” and after arresting him took him to an unknown location.
Despite repeated follow-ups by his family with the judiciary and security agencies, there is still no information available about the fate of this Kurdish teenager.
 
 
 
 

Two Afghani Citizens Killed in West Azerbaijan

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Ethnic Minorities
Azerbaijan, Turkey

HRANA News Agency – Iranian security forces opened fired on a number of Afghani citizens in the border region between Iran and Turkey and killed two of them.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on Sunday, August 7, 2011, Iranian security forces killed two Afghani citizens when a group of immigrants were attempting to leave Iran through the border region in Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province.During this incident which occurred in the border region close to Baroshkhoran village, two other Afghani citizens were severely injured.The wounded are currently in critical condition.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran announced a decision to return Afghani refugees to Afghanistan, large number of them have been crossing the border illegally to seek asylum in Turkey.

 

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Dr. Matin Fattahian Arrested

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Ethnic Minorities
Matin Fattahian

HRANA – Dr. Matin Fattahian, a Kurdish citizen residing in Tabriz, has been arrested by security forces.
Based on reports received by HRANA, a Kurdish doctor residing in Tabriz by the name of Matin Fattahian has been arrested over the past week by the security forces in this city and has been taken to an unknown location.
Reports indicate that security forces raided the doctor’s residence and in addition to searching the home, confiscated some of his personal belongings.
 

 

Fighting Continues in Kurdistan

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Ethnic Minorities
Kamyaran, Sarvabad

HRANA News Agency – Since the fighting between PJAK (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane) and the Islamic Republic’s military forces began, the degree of violence seen in regions alongside Iran’s western and northwestern borders have been unprecedented in recent years.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on July 13, 2011, the fighting broke out between PJAK and the Islamic Republic’s military forces.Although more than one week has past, the violent confrontation between two sides continues.During this time, a number of fighters on both sides of the conflict have been killed and wounded.
The mountainous regions of Shaho and kosalan have witnessed heavy fighting while the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has maintained its heavy presence in these regions.
On Tuesday night, July 19, 2011, local residents reported that the two sides fought violently in a region called “hah Vari Sardasht” on a road between Kamyaran and Sarvabad.As a result, several individuals were killed.
Reports from Sardasht and Piran Shahr indicate hospitals and clinics in these two cities face shortage as the number of those injured increases.Meanwhile, several wounded patients were transferred to hospitals in Urmia.
One of the most important causalities of this fighting has been the amount of damage sustained to the environment and civilians’ residences.While evacuation of local residents from border towns have brought about the displacement of dozens of citizens in these areas, shelling of mountainous regions have caused forest fires and irreversible damage to the environment and rural farmland alongside the border.
Furthermore, nightly curfew imposed by the Islamic Republic’s military forces has disrupted lives and caused public discontent.

 

Security Measures for Anniversary of Ghassemlou’s Assassination

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Ethnic Minorities
Abdual Rahman Ghassemlou

HRANA News Agency – On the 22nd anniversary of Dr. Abdual Rahman Ghassemlou’s assassination, a number of cities in western Iran are witnessing increased security measures, and the presence of military forces are felt throughout the region.

Dr. Abdual Rahman Gahassemlou was a political activist and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party from 1973 to 1989.On July 13, 1989, he was assassinated by perpetrators believed to be agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on the anniversary of Dr. Abdual Rahman Ghassemlou’s assassination, Kurdish citizens in various cities throughout Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan Provinces are on strike in order to protest against this crime.This observance has become a long standing tradition amongst Kurdish citizens in the past few years.
In recent days, Iranian security and intelligence forces have summoned businessmen, vendors and salesmen to warn them not to close their shops and the bazaar.
As this report is being prepared, the heavy presence of military forces in various cities throughout West Azerbaijan Province has created tense security atmosphere in places such as Bukan, Saqqez, Urmia and Mahabad.
 

Kurdish Political Prisoner Jamal Alizadeh on Hunger Strike

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Ethnic Minorities
Jamal Alizadeh

HRANA News Agency – Kurdish political prisoner Jamal Alizadeh has gone on hunger strike in Urmia’s central prison in the West Azerbaijan Province.

According to a report by Mukrian News Agency, Jamal Alizadeh is a resident of Peeran-Shahr who has been behind bars in Urmia Prison for more than five months.On July 9, 2011, Jamal Alizadeh began his hunger strike in order to protest against prison officials’ lack of response to his request.Jamal Alizadeh has asked to be transferred to a prison in the city of Naqadeh.
The Revolutionary Court has sentenced Jamal Alizadeh to fifteen months in prison on charges of cooperating with a Kurdish political party.
 

19 Iranian Arabs Detained In Khuzestan Province

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Ethnic Minorities
Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, Mir Hossein Mousavi

HRANA News Agency –Security forces in Iran’s Khuzestan Province have arrested nineteen Iranians from the Sunni Arab minority, a human rights source reported on Tuesday.
According to the Human Rights Activists news agency, at least nineteen Iranians of Sunni Arab origin have been detained in various cities in the country’s Khuzestan Province.
The group said that it was common practice for the security forces to round up citizens with Sunni Arab backgrounds ahead of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
In February, Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, a top advisor to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, condemned the violent clampdowns in the province.
“The security, territorial integrity, independence and sustainable development of the country can only be realised with the participation of all Iranian citizens irrespective of their gender, language, ethnicity, religion or political leaning, and in accordance with accepted international human rights conventions,” said Amir-Arjomand, who is also the spokesperson for the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, the opposition Green Movement’s leading decision-making body.
“The use of unjustifiable violence in dealing with the legitimate demands of ethnic and religious minorities is in violation of national interests and the [Islamic] Revolution’s fundamental ideals,” he added. “The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope condemns the repression, arrest and the illegitimate use of violence against Khuzestani citizens who pursue their demands through peaceful means.”
Rights groups have repeatedly documented the discriminations against ethnic Arabs and the lack of socioeconomic development in the region.