ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian security forces have detained at least five men in Iran's Kurdish-majority western regions (Rojhelat) over the past several days, a France-based watchdog reported on Thursday, noting the arrests were carried out without judicial warrants as the charges against them remain unclear.
"Over the past few days, at least five Kurdish citizens - Sabah Valadbeygi, Kamal Piranpour, Mullah Abubakr Yousefi, Younes Mousapour, and Sardar Ostadahmadi - have been arrested by forces from Iran's intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] intelligence," the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said.
The rights monitor said the men were detained between July 1 and Tuesday in the Kurdish-majority cities of Mahabad, Paveh and Sardasht and subsequently transferred to detention centers run by the latter security agencies.
The Paris-based watchdog, which relies on a network of local sources, detailed that Ostadahmadi and Piranpour were arrested without security forces “presenting judicial warrants.”
Meanwhile, Yousefi and Mousapour were taken in a raid IRGC forces claimed targeted the presence of "members of a Kurdish opposition party."
Valadbeygi, a retired teacher and environmental activist, was taken for unknown reasons after “previously being summoned by security agencies,” KHRN said.
The latest arrests come amid a continued wave of detentions involving Kurdish civilians in Rojhelat.
KHRN reported on Tuesday that two Kurdish men, Salam and Sarvar Bahrami, remain in administrative detention without clear legal charges more than three months after being arrested over accusations of association with a Kurdish opposition party.
Meanwhile, a Norway-based human rights monitor reported Tuesday that Iranian security forces detained a couple from Rojhelat, also without a warrant, noting the husband had previously been detained for his participation in the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protest movement.
Rashed Emami and his wife Shler Modirzadeh were forcefully detained without authorities, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported, adding that the couple's home was raided by Iranian intelligence forces.
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