Ilam: Arrest of 37 Kurdish Citizens in Dehloran, Darreh Shahr, and Abdanan

January 2, 2026; in the continuation of the wave of arbitrary arrests of Kurdish citizens in Ilam province—aimed at imposing an atmosphere of suppression and security on society following the popular protests that began in January 2026—37 Kurdish citizens in the cities of Dehloran, Darreh Shahr, and Abdanan were arrested by security forces over the past three days. Additionally, one Kurdish citizen from Abdanan was arrested in Tehran.

According to news received and confirmed by Kurdpa, at least 37 Kurdish citizens were arrested in Ilam province between December 31, 2025, and January 2, 2026. These arrests include Dehloran (25 people), Darreh Shahr (7 people), and Abdanan (5 people). Furthermore, during this same period, one Kurdish citizen from Abdanan in Ilam province was arrested by security forces in Tehran and transferred to an unknown location. Among those detained in Ilam are several teenagers under the age of 18. Most of these individuals were arrested violently during security force raids on their homes without the presentation of a judicial warrant. As of the publication of this report, there is no information regarding the status or whereabouts of many of them.

The names of the detainees, categorized by city, are as follows:

Dehloran (25 individuals):

On Friday, January 2, 2026, two Kurdish citizens from Dehloran named "Arshia Joshan" (a 17-year-old teenager) and "Omid Beiranvand" were arrested violently during a raid on their home by security forces without a judicial warrant and transferred to an unknown location.

On Thursday, January 1, 2026, a teenager from Dehloran named "Kourosh Nouri" (15 years old) was arrested by security forces without a judicial warrant and transferred to an unknown location.

On Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at least 22 Kurdish citizens from Dehloran named "Akbar Darvishi," "Aref Darvishi," "Mohammad Havasi," "Alireza Salehi," "Sepehr Salehi," "Farzad Shokri," "Abolfazl Shadfar," "Milad Kiyadi," "Ehsan Maleki," "Amir Raoofi," "Omid Malek-Mohammadi," "Yazdan Bakhti" (21 years old), "Sharif Azad," "Shayan Momeni," "Amir-Hossein Alizadeh," "Fardin Aghaei," "Abolfazl Jamkhaneh," "Sajjad Azad," "Abdollah Azad," "Erfan Farahmand," "Alireza Rahmani," and "Amir-Reza Rahmani" were arbitrarily arrested. These arrests followed the popular protests in this city and were carried out by Law Enforcement Forces raiding their homes without any specific reason, solely for the purpose of creating fear, terror, and suppression. After being taken to Police Station 11 of Dehloran, despite popular efforts to secure their release, they were transferred to Ilam. Until the publication of this report, there is no information regarding their whereabouts or fate.

Darreh Shahr (7 individuals):

On Friday, January 2, 2026, five Kurdish citizens from Darreh Shahr named "Abolfazl Ghasemi" (20 years old), "Sattar Zeidi" (34 years old), "Reza Heydari," "Saman Gholami" (35 years old), and "Shayan Asl Marz" were arrested by security forces without a judicial warrant and transferred to an unknown location.

On Thursday, January 1, 2026, two Kurdish citizens from Darreh Shahr named "Mohammad Hassanvand" (21 years old) and "Bizhan Karimian" (21 years old) were arrested by security forces and transferred to an unknown location.

Abdanan (5 individuals):

On Friday, January 2, 2026, "Omid Naseri," a 37-year-old citizen from Abdanan, was arrested by security forces without a judicial warrant and transferred to an unknown location.

On the evening of Thursday, January 1, 2026, four teenagers under the age of 18 named "Fardin Hatami," "Reza Khosravi," "Mohammad-Javad Zarei," and "Abolfazl Zarei" from "Murmuri" (a suburb of Abdanan) were arrested by security forces and transferred to an unknown location.

Arrest of Ilam Citizens in Other Cities (1 person in Tehran):

On Thursday, January 1, 2026, "Iman Ali-Moradi" (33 years old), a Kurdish citizen from Abdanan, was arrested by security forces in Tehran and transferred to an unknown location.

Until the publication of this news, no information is available regarding the reasons for the arrest or the fate of these Kurdish citizens, and security forces have provided no explanation in this regard.

It should be noted that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, political detainees are systematically deprived of the right to access a lawyer, the right to meet with their families, and even the right to make phone calls during the stages of arbitrary detention. In limited cases, under pressure and continuous follow-up by families, only calls lasting a few seconds are permitted; in Kurdistan, detainees are not even allowed to speak their mother tongue and are only permitted to state in Persian, in the presence of security forces, that "they are in detention and are doing well."

The January 2025 protests began on December 28, 2025, starting from the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, where merchants closed their shops in response to the fall of the Rial's value, high inflation, and the rising cost of basic goods; this strike quickly spread to street gatherings. In the following days, protests expanded to more than 10 to 15 cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Karaj, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Arak, Najafabad, Fooladshahr, Marlik, Izeh, Nurabad Mamasani, Fasa, Yazd, Zanjan, and Qom. The initial nature of the protests was economic and livelihood-based, but gradually in many cities, it turned into criticism of the government's macro-policies and slogans against the system and its leaders.