A Human Rights Organization Reports the Re-Arrest of the Father of Justice Seeker Reza Lotfi

Continuing the pressure on justice seekers, a human rights organization reported that Kamel Lotfi, the father of Reza Lotfi, one of the victims of the nationwide protests in 2022, has been arrested following a summons to the Public and Revolutionary Court in Qorveh, Kurdistan Province. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Wednesday, April 22, that Kamel Lotfi was arrested while he had previously been detained on April 27 of last year and was released on bail on July 12 of the same year. Kamel Lotfi was tried in November 2023 in Branch 102 of the Criminal Court 2 of Dehgolan on charges of 'propaganda against the regime,' and the report does not clarify the reason for his re-arrest or his current detention location. He is the father of Reza Lotfi, a 20-year-old who was killed on September 19, 2022, during protests in Dehgolan 'by gunfire from special forces.' The report emphasizes that after the killing of this young protester, the Lotfi family was subjected to 'threats and pressure' by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to conduct a 'television interview and attribute their child's murder to Kurdish parties,' but Kamel Lotfi revealed in a video after a few days that 'his son was killed by gunfire from the Islamic Republic's military forces.' Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the actions of the intelligence and judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic for exerting pressure on justice seekers and the families of those who lost their lives in the nationwide protests. The repeated case-building against Manouchehr Bakhtiari in prison, the continued imprisonment of Nahid Shirpich, the parents of justice seeker Pouya Bakhtiari, the ongoing detention of Mashallah Karami, the father of executed protester Mohammad Mehdi Karami in a state of uncertainty, and the re-arrest of Farzad Moazami, the cousin of Reza Moazami Goudarzi, are just a few examples of the dozens of arrests and case-building against justice seekers. Additionally, see: Manouchehr Bakhtiari's wife states that the life of this justice-seeking prisoner is 'in danger.' Previously, Voice of America addressed the dimensions of the pressure exerted by the repressive apparatus of the Islamic Republic on the families and relatives of the victims and prisoners of the nationwide protests of 2022 in a special program. 69% of the audience of the Persian section of Voice of America in a poll stated that the pressures of the Islamic Republic aimed at silencing justice seekers have not been effective.