ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian intelligence forces arrested two Kurdish siblings in the western province of Kurdistan on Saturday during coordinated raids on their homes, a rights watchdog said, as authorities continue a broad crackdown on activists, protesters, and political detainees.
The Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said on Saturday that “dozens of intelligence ministry forces simultaneously raided” the residences of Kazhal Rahmani and Danyal Rahmani in Kurdistan province’s Kamyaran city. According to the rights group, security agents broke down the doors of the homes “without presenting any judicial warrant,” arrested the two siblings, and transferred them to an undisclosed location.
KHRN identified the arrested individuals as Kazhal Rahmani and Danyal Rahmani.
The rights group said Kazhal Rahmani, a civil activist, has been summoned and interrogated multiple times in previous years by the intelligence ministry in both Kamyaran and Sanandaj, another city in the Kurdish province. The group added that she had worked as a nurse at a hospital in Kamyaran but was dismissed from her position in autumn 2019 following pressure from the ministry.
The network said Danyal Rahmani, a computer engineering student at a university in Sanandaj, had also been summoned and interrogated several times in previous years by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence forces in Kamyaran.
KHRN said their brother, Rebin Rahmani, is a former political prisoner and a board member of its organization.
The group also said another brother, Jamal Rahmani, a member of the leadership council of the Democratic Community and a Free Rojhelat (KODAR), was killed by the IRGC forces in 2018. It said that since then, the family has repeatedly approached security institutions in Kamyaran and Sanandaj seeking the return of his body or information about the location of his burial, but have received no information.
Arrests have increased since the April ceasefire that ended weeks of conflict between Iran, the US, and Israel. Authorities have accused thousands of detainees of providing photos and videos of sensitive sites struck during the six-week aerial bombing campaign to foreign adversaries. Iran had already intensified a crackdown on people arrested during the January anti-government protests. Human rights groups say thousands of demonstrators were killed and more than 20,000 people were detained in the ensuing security campaign.
Rights organizations have accused Iranian authorities of bringing politically motivated charges against detainees, including allegations of cooperation with Israel and the United States. They also say security forces routinely use torture and other forms of ill-treatment to extract self-incriminating confessions later used in court proceedings.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iran carried out 2,063 executions in 2025, the highest annual total recorded in more than three decades. Human rights groups have expressed concern that additional protesters and political prisoners could face severe sentences, including execution, as authorities continue their post-protest crackdown.
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