ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian intelligence officers raided the family home of a Kurdish environmental activist from Marivan in Iran’s western Kurdish-majority province, arrested him without a warrant, and abducted him to an unknown location, amid a series of sweeping arbitrary arrests in recent weeks to incite fear in the public.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence officers on August 20, raided the family home of Hadi Roboseh, a Kurdish environmental activist from Marivan, and arrested him, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network KHRN, which reported the incident on Saturday.
Despite the efforts and follow-up by Roboseh’s family regarding his whereabouts, condition and the cause and place of his arrest, no judicial or security institution has been willing to respond or provide any information or explanation, according to the rights group.
Arbitrary detentions have long been used as a tool by Iranian authorities to quell public protests and suppress dissent since the Islamic Revolution’s founding, under the guise of counterterrorism.
Authorities frequently target those suspected of being dissidents, including cultural activists, language teachers, artists, journalists and community activists, who are prone to arbitrary arrests without trials, subject to torture to extract forced confessions, and at its worst - extrajudicial killings.
Forced disappearances are a notable characteristic of authorities' efforts to incite fear into the public.
KHRN earlier on Saturday reported another incident involving the arrest of five Kurdish citizens in the village of Sardosh, Marivan, along the border with the Kurdistan Region. Dozens of security forces raided the village with multiple vehicles, detained the citizens without a warrant, and transferred them to unknown locations.
The arrests come amid continued pressure on Kurdish citizens in western Iran. On the same day Kurdistan press agency Kurdpa reported that 29 Kurdish residents of Piranshahr in Urmia Province were sentenced by court in Urmia for their participation in a 2024 wedding ceremony, which included traditional Kurdish dancing and clothing.
The court upheld sentences of imposing either three months in prison or a 20 million toman ($97) fine, after convicting the individuals of “propaganda against the state through dance and symbolism.”
According to monthly statistics collected by Kurdpa, at least 62 Kurdish citizens were arbitrarily detained by Iranian security institutions in July across 15 cities, with “a majority of the arrests” carried out without judicial warrants and through raids on homes.
Kurdpa said the detainees included civil and environmental activists, former political prisoners, women, minors, artists, and family members of political activists, while many were transferred to unknown locations and denied information about their whereabouts.
The rights group characterized July’s arrests at a frequency “averaging at least two arrests per day,” framing the high volume indicative of an “ongoing, systematic trend” which includes raids on homes, transfer to unknown locations, and denial of access to legal counsel or family visits as “standard procedures, with security forces routinely confiscating phones without legal authorization.”
The arrests have raised alarm, giving rise to growing international concern over Iran’s treatment of ethnic minorities.
UN human rights experts earlier in August urged Tehran to end what they described as the “escalating targeting of minority communities,” including Kurds, citing reports of arbitrary arrests, detention, enforced disappearances, and restrictions on cultural expression.
