At least 13 Kurdish students and civil society activists were arrested simultaneously in several Iranian cities
On Sunday, January 11, human rights sources reported the simultaneous arrest of at least 13 students and civil society activists in several Iranian cities on Friday and Saturday.
Some human rights sources have reported a higher number of detainees, saying that security forces arrested these individuals in the cities of Karaj, Mahabad, Rabat, Marivan, and Bogan and transferred them to unknown locations.
Farzad Samani, Sohaib Badrouj, Shapool Khezri, Darya Talabani, Salar Rahoi, Sirvan Nouri, Afshin Mam Ahmadi, Bahman Yousefzadeh, Farhad Musapour, Fereydoun Musapour, Dana Samadi, Azimeh Naseri, and Karvan Minoui are the detainees whose names have been reported to the media so far.
According to HRANA, the news agency of human rights activists, among those arrested were Farzad Samani from Mahabad and Sohaib Badrouj from Marivan, who were arrested on Saturday, January 10, by the IRGC Intelligence Agency in the Kharazmi student dormitory in Karaj.
This is despite the fact that, according to the law, any military or security forces are prohibited from entering the university and its dormitory subdivisions.
Five other people arrested were civil activists from the city of Marivan and three were Kurdish civil activists living in the city of Rabat in West Azerbaijan province.
According to HRANA, Farzad Samani has previously been arrested and convicted in the Revolutionary Court, but despite the follow-up efforts of the families of the detainees, no information has been obtained about their whereabouts or the charges brought against them.
On Sunday, January 11, the Islamic Students' Association of Sharif University of Technology issued a statement on the anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian plane by a missile fired by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, referring to the pressure exerted by the government's security institutions on university activists and students, and wrote: "The boots of various security institutions and the razor blades of tyranny are aimed at our lifeblood and are blocking our way to breathe."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has repeatedly promised in recent years to eliminate the "security environment" in universities, but reports from student organizations indicate the persistence of the security environment and threats against critics and opponents in universities.
According to information from the Iranian Prison Atlas Organization, which collects information about Iranian prisoners, at least 176 Kurdish citizens of Iran are currently in prison on political and ideological charges.
Source: Radio Farda
