ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian security forces detained three members of a Kurdish family including a minor in western Iran (Rojhelat) and transferred them to Sanandaj prison, according to a rights organization, in the latest escalation of sweeping arbitrary arrests and repression of civil society.
Maryam Moradian, Sirous Hamidi and their 16-year-old daughter, Kordia Hamidi, were arrested in mid-August in a village in the town of Divandarreh, without authorities presenting a judicial warrant, Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported on Monday.
The minor was released after four days, but both parents remain detained and have been denied access to a lawyer and visits from their family, Hengaw said. The group said the reasons for the arrests, alleged charges and current status of the parents remain unclear.
Iranian authorities face continued scrutiny over the arrest and detention of minors during its sweeping crackdowns against protestors, journalists, members of ethnic and religious minorities and members of civil society across the country.
Rights organizations have raised alarm over mounting evidence indicating that a significant number of children and teenagers were among those detained following the January protests earlier this year.
In February, UNICEF called for the release of children detained in connection with recent unrest in Iran, warning that deprivation of liberty poses lasting consequences for children's development.
“Children deprived of their liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity and enabled to maintain regular contact with their families,” UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder affirmed in a February statement.
The case is one of numerous reports by Kurdish rights groups of minors being detained in different parts of Iran.
In February, Hengaw reported the arrests of 12 minors from five cities in Iran from Baloch, Lur, and Kurdish backgrounds, all of whom remained “in a state of uncertainty.”
Hengaw in February verified the identities of at least 250 children detained during the recent protests, including Kurdish minors.
Among those cases was 17-year-old Saman Sheikhi, arrested in Malekshahi in mid-February and transferred to an undisclosed location, according to Hengaw. The group said the children arrested during the crackdown remained in a state of legal uncertainty and the conditions of their detention cannot always be verified.
