Three Kurdish Civil Activists Arrested in Sanandaj by Security Agencies

Human rights organizations in Kurdistan, Iran reported on Sunday, July 30, the arrest of three civil and cultural activists in Sanandaj named Masoud Mirzaei, Ebrahim Mirzaei, and Hozan Babakermi. The reason for the arrest of these three Kurdish citizens is still unclear. The human rights news agency Hengaw reported, citing informed sources, that 53-year-old Masoud Mirzaei, who suffers from diabetes and recently underwent heart surgery, has been deprived of access to his medications. According to the report, Mr. Mirzaei was arrested on Tuesday, July 23, on the Sanandaj-Kermanshah road without any judicial warrant by security forces. Simultaneously with Masoud's arrest, his brother Ebrahim was also arrested at his workplace by the security forces of the Islamic Republic without presenting a judicial order. The third detained activist on Tuesday, July 23, is Hozan Babakermi, who, according to the Kurdpa news agency, is a Kurdish language teacher and a member of the cultural-social association 'Nozhin.' There is no information available about the fate of these three activists and their location and conditions of detention. The arrest of these three Kurdish citizens comes at a time when Javaid Rahman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, recently stated at a meeting hosted by the Atlantic Council that 'ethnic and religious minorities are facing organized persecution and harassment.' About a month ago, the Kurdistan Human Rights Association reported the arrest of at least 490 Kurdish citizens during the first five months of this year. During the protests following the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police, over 20,000 Iranian citizens were arrested. The wave of arrests has continued after the protests, and many members of ethnic and religious minorities remain in detention based on baseless and unproven allegations.