Mahabad; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Killed Him, Withheld His Body for 6 Days, and Committed Enforced Disappearance
Enforced Disappearance of Bodies in Kurdistan;
Continuation of a Historical, Multi-Layered Pattern to Suppress Protests and Solidarity at Funerals, Psychologically Torture Families to Halt Seeking Justice, and Tamper with Evidence to Evade Criminal Responsibility.
August 2, 2026 – Six days after the killing of "Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili" a young Kurdish man from Mahabad, by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces near Bukan Dam, his body has still not been handed over to his family. During this period, his family has repeatedly visited the IRGC Intelligence Department in Urmia, but after repeatedly stalling them, the security agency claimed today: "What body? It's not with us at all." Despite reports indicating that his body was transferred by IRGC forces after he was killed, the refusal to hand over the body, the family's lack of information, and the lack of accountability from security institutions place this case within the framework of enforced disappearance.
An informed source, confirming this news, told Kurdpa: Today, Sunday, August 2, 2026, the family of "Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili" visited the IRGC Intelligence Department in Urmia for the several time demanding the handover of their son's body; however, after stalling multiple times, officers of this security agency ultimately professed ignorance and told the family: "What body? It's not with us at all."
On the evening of Tuesday, July 28, 2026, "Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili" was present near Bukan Dam on the road route between Bukan and Shahin Dezh on his motorcycle when he was targeted by gunfire from IRGC forces and killed. According to Kurdpa's informed source, IRGC forces, including local IRGC forces known as "Jash," arrived at the location after hearing gunshot sounds in the area, immediately opened fire on him, and killed him. Subsequently, IRGC forces transferred the body of Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili with them.
In the same timeframe, the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada Regional Headquarters released an announcement on July 29, 2026, republished by many state media outlets, stating without referencing anyone's identity or details that "a terrorist operative affiliated with separatist terrorist groups" was killed after being "identified" by the "Unknown Soldiers of Imam Zaman in the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC in West Azerbaijan Province." In this news item, several attached images were also published, showing in one of them a body from the neck down and displaying in other images several weapons alongside the emblem of the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada Regional Headquarters.
It remains unclear to Kurdpa whether the body displayed in the published images and the claim raised by the Hamzeh Seyyed al-Shohada Regional Headquarters pertain to "Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili" or not; particularly since so far neither his body nor any document, paper, or record has been handed over to the family, and no file has been opened to inform the family of the reason for their son's killing and the progress of any proceedings.
"Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili," son of Omar, was 26 years old, single, and from Mahabad. He had no fixed job and earned a living through freelance work, primarily as a laborer.
From a human rights perspective, the security institutions' refusal to answer, failure to hand over the body, and denial statements by IRGC Intelligence ("What body? It's not with us at all") following the killing of Seyyed Ahmad Esmaeili constitute a concrete and full instance of "enforced disappearance" (subject of Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance). In this pattern of behavior, the state completely removes the victim from "the protection of the law" by creating lack of information and official denial, reducing accountability regarding unlawful shooting and extrajudicial deprivation of life to zero by stripping away the possibility of judicial redress.
Enforced disappearance of bodies and state lack of accountability have a historical precedent, particularly in Kurdistan; a discriminatory and security-driven pattern that has continued from the executions of the 1980s and the secret burial of Kurdish political prisoners and government opponents. This systematic lack of accountability is a multi-layered tactic of repression. By hiding the body, the government pursues three objectives: first, preventing funerals from turning into protests and collective solidarity in Kurdistan; second, inflicting psychological torture on the family to erode their capacity to seek justice; and third, destroying forensic evidence to evade criminal responsibility before international bodies.
