Amnesty International Expresses Concern Over ‘Disappearance’ of Five Kurdish Citizens
Amnesty International released a statement criticizing the “disappearance of Kurdish citizens” and “retaliatory measures against their families,” calling for an end to such actions.
The human rights organization reported an armed clash between Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel and several members of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (Komala) in early June, during which Ramin Hosseini-Panahi, a Komala party member in the city of Sanandaj, was detained, but his whereabouts remain unknown.
In Amnesty International’s statement, it was noted that one day after Ramin Hosseini-Panahi’s arrest, IRGC personnel raided his parents’ home and detained his brother Afshin Hosseini-Panahi, as well as three other relatives named Anwar Hosseini-Panahi, Ahmad Hosseini-Panahi, and Zabir Hosseini-Panahi.
Amnesty International states that none of these individuals participated in the clash with IRGC personnel and were arrested solely for “retaliatory purposes and to create an atmosphere of fear and terror.”
According to the human rights organization, the arrest of these individuals was accompanied by violence, and their fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
In Amnesty International’s statement, it noted that Ramin Hosseini-Panahi’s family has expressed serious concern about the possibility of “torture and extrajudicial execution.”
Raha Bahrani, Iran researcher at Amnesty International, told Radio Farda:
“Ramin Hosseini-Panahi and four other family members have been in detention for nearly ten days, and there is no information about their fate and whereabouts. The families concerned approached various government offices in the cities of Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Dehkolan in Kurdistan Province, but the authorities refused to confirm the detentions or disclose their whereabouts, and instead subjected the families to various insults and threats.”
Raha Bahrani added: “According to international law, when a country’s authorities neither confirm the detention of individuals nor disclose their fate and whereabouts, they commit the crime of enforced disappearance, which is a very serious crime under international law and exposes individuals to serious risk of extrajudicial execution, torture, and other serious human rights violations.”
Amnesty International has called on the Islamic Republic’s authorities to provide information about the fate and whereabouts of Ramin Hosseini-Panahi and his detained relatives.
The freedom of expression organization has also demanded that Ramin Hosseini-Panahi, a Kurdish citizen, have access to a defense lawyer and appropriate medical facilities, as well as receive a fair trial without resorting to the death penalty.
Amnesty International further reported in its statement of an armed clash between Komala party members and IRGC forces in Sanandaj on June 2, during which, according to the report, three Komala members were killed, and a fourth person, Ramin Hosseini-Panahi, was wounded in the clash and transferred to an unknown location.
The killed individuals are named Hamed Seif-Panahi, Behzad Nuri, and Sabah Hosseini-Panahi.
According to the report, IRGC personnel threatened the families of these three killed citizens not to hold any funeral or mourning ceremonies for them.
Komala is among the opposition and armed groups opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Kurdish region of Iran.
Source: Radio Farda
