Security Clashes After Burial of Environmental Activist; At Least 10 Civil Activists Arrested in Kamyaran

Human rights sources report that at least 10 civil activists in Kamyaran County, Kurdistan Province, were arrested following the burial ceremony of Ismail Karimi, an environmental activist. The human rights organization "Hengaw" reported that agents from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stormed a restaurant on the Sanandaj-Kamyaran road on Wednesday, August 3, violently arresting at least 10 citizens, including four environmental activists and three teachers. According to the "Kurdpa" website, government agents drew weapons on these activists and teachers, beat them during the arrest, and confiscated their mobile phones. Hengaw listed eight of the detainees as Khalil Parandak, Yaser Noori, Farideh Vaisi, Hamid Sabzeh, Farzin Mofaqi, Amir Nadimi, Hesam Mahdi, and Amanj Ghurbani, and later reported the arrest of an environmental activist from Sanandaj named Omid Ahmadi. The report indicates that Khalil Parandak is a member of the "Chiro" environmental supporters' association, Yaser Noori is an environmental activist, Farideh Vaisi and Hamid Sabzeh are members of the "Jivay" environmental association, and Farzin Mofaqi, Amir Nadimi, and Hesam Mahdi are teachers. Some of these civil activists have previously faced judicial action and arrests. According to published reports, the burial ceremony of Ismail Karimi, an environmental activist and employee of the Kamyaran Natural Resources Department, was held on Wednesday, August 3, with the participation of thousands of people. Ismail Karimi suffered 80% burns while combating a fire in the "Kanisheh" forest pastures on August 1 and died two days later in the hospital. Concurrently with the occurrence of wildfires in Iran's pastures and forest areas, especially in the summer season, reports indicate a lack of timely and effective government assistance, with volunteers taking spontaneous action to combat the fires.