Increased Government Pressure on the Anniversary of Mahsa Amini and Nationwide Protests of 2022; Two More Citizens Arrested in Kurdistan

As the anniversary of the nationwide protests of 2022, which erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, approaches, a new wave of arrests of activists and citizens by the intelligence and judicial forces of the Islamic Republic is underway. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Tuesday, September 10, that agents of the Islamic Republic arrested two citizens identified as "Mozafar Dariyayi from Divandareh and Rashid Edavayi from Sarvabad" in Kurdistan province and transferred them to an unknown location. According to the report, the arrest of Mozafar Dariyayi occurred on Sunday "without a judicial order" following a raid by intelligence agents on his home. Additionally, on Tuesday morning, Rashid Dariyayi was also arrested by agents of an intelligence agency without a judicial order at his home in the village of Selin Sarvabad. It is unclear what charges the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic have attributed to these two citizens, and it is also unknown to which detention center they have been taken. Mahsa (Jina) Amini died a few days after her arrest by the morality police on September 16, 2022, at Kasra Hospital in Tehran, and her death triggered widespread protests across Iran that continued for months in the streets, universities, and schools. In the lead-up to the second anniversary of this event, several citizens and civil activists have been arrested, and the agents of the Islamic Republic have also increased pressure on the families of the victims seeking justice. Several citizens have been arrested without charges and "with violence" by the intelligence forces of the IRGC in Divandareh, Kurdistan province. During the suppression of the nationwide protests of 2022 by government forces, hundreds of citizens were killed, and thousands were injured and arrested. As the second anniversary of these protests approaches, several student organizations and students in Iran have issued a statement emphasizing that they continue to stand against "this inhumane regime" and will fight to "permanently challenge" and "destroy" it. In the students' statement, it is stated: "We neither forgive, nor forget, nor express regret, nor fear, and we do not turn back from the path we have taken. The Islamic Republic will sooner or later be destroyed by the revolutionary victory that is flowing through the veins of society."