Scores Arrested and Injured Following the Recent Unrest in Kurdistan
13:49 - 13 May 2015
Kurdpa: Approximately 218 people have been arrested and injured in the last few days during the unrest in Mahabad, and other Kurdish cities in Iran, by security and intelligence forces.
After five days of protests in the city of Mahabad, there are still no accurate figures on the number of people injured and arrested.
Kurdistan News Agency, Kurdpa, has compiled a list based on the accounts provided by the families of the detainees and wounded in Mahabad and other cities in Iranian Kurdistan.
Kurdpa has learned that after the demonstrations in Mahabad, following the suspicious death of a hotel chambermaid, protesters faced heavy-handed treatment by the Special Forces, which led to the arrest of dozens of residents by the intelligence agents.
Other Kurdish cities, such as Sardasht and Sanandaj, have also faced similar security measurements but on a much smaller scale.
In Mahabad, security forces used pellet guns to disperse the protesters. The condition of some of the wounded has been reported as very critical, having been struck with up to 40 pallets.
At the moment, tight security has made it very difficult for Kurdpa reporters to have access to sources on the ground.
The mother of one of the injured informed a Kurdpa reporter that, “Following my son’s arrival home, we immediately transported him to one of the medical facilities, however, we witnessed the security setting immediately upon arrival, and we preferred his treatment at home rather than the medical centre”.
Many of the injured protesters did not seek medical treatment for fear of reprisal from security agencies.
Following the unrest in Mahabad, Special Guards were dispatched from surrounding cities to crack down on the protesters. Regime security forces, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have been put on high alerts across the Kurdish regions in Iran.
The security situation in the cities has also transpired in the prisons as well. Life-sentence political prisoner, Mansour Arvand was transferred to an unknown location from Mahabad’s prison. This Kurdish political prisoner was arrested in June 2011, and was sentenced to death for conspiring against the state by assisting a Kurdish dissident party. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
In Pirsnshar, a recent student detainee was transferred to an unknown location. Naser Alinejad, an undergraduate student at Gilan University was arrested at his home on Saturday, May 9 by intelligence agents.
In Naghadeh, another Kurdish city 30 miles in north-western Mahabad, Amir Piroti a resident of Naghadeh was arrested by the city’s notorious intelligence office, also charged with conspiring against the state by assisting a Kurdish dissident party. There is no information released to his family on his whereabouts.
Since the start of the Iranian New Year in March 21 - without considering the mass arrests following the recent unrest - Kurdpa has documented the arrest of 50 Kurds by regime’s security-intelligence agents.
Writing by Kurdpa Staff Writers and editing by Sharmin Hassaniani.
After five days of protests in the city of Mahabad, there are still no accurate figures on the number of people injured and arrested.
Kurdistan News Agency, Kurdpa, has compiled a list based on the accounts provided by the families of the detainees and wounded in Mahabad and other cities in Iranian Kurdistan.
Kurdpa has learned that after the demonstrations in Mahabad, following the suspicious death of a hotel chambermaid, protesters faced heavy-handed treatment by the Special Forces, which led to the arrest of dozens of residents by the intelligence agents.
Other Kurdish cities, such as Sardasht and Sanandaj, have also faced similar security measurements but on a much smaller scale.
In Mahabad, security forces used pellet guns to disperse the protesters. The condition of some of the wounded has been reported as very critical, having been struck with up to 40 pallets.
At the moment, tight security has made it very difficult for Kurdpa reporters to have access to sources on the ground.
The mother of one of the injured informed a Kurdpa reporter that, “Following my son’s arrival home, we immediately transported him to one of the medical facilities, however, we witnessed the security setting immediately upon arrival, and we preferred his treatment at home rather than the medical centre”.
Many of the injured protesters did not seek medical treatment for fear of reprisal from security agencies.
Following the unrest in Mahabad, Special Guards were dispatched from surrounding cities to crack down on the protesters. Regime security forces, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have been put on high alerts across the Kurdish regions in Iran.
The security situation in the cities has also transpired in the prisons as well. Life-sentence political prisoner, Mansour Arvand was transferred to an unknown location from Mahabad’s prison. This Kurdish political prisoner was arrested in June 2011, and was sentenced to death for conspiring against the state by assisting a Kurdish dissident party. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
In Pirsnshar, a recent student detainee was transferred to an unknown location. Naser Alinejad, an undergraduate student at Gilan University was arrested at his home on Saturday, May 9 by intelligence agents.
In Naghadeh, another Kurdish city 30 miles in north-western Mahabad, Amir Piroti a resident of Naghadeh was arrested by the city’s notorious intelligence office, also charged with conspiring against the state by assisting a Kurdish dissident party. There is no information released to his family on his whereabouts.
Since the start of the Iranian New Year in March 21 - without considering the mass arrests following the recent unrest - Kurdpa has documented the arrest of 50 Kurds by regime’s security-intelligence agents.
Writing by Kurdpa Staff Writers and editing by Sharmin Hassaniani.
