ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Iranian security forces have arrested at least seven Kurdish residents, including a Sunni religious leader, in separate raids in the Kurdish cities of Bukan and Oshnavieh in Western Iran (Rojhelat) over the past four days, a human rights monitor reported Tuesday.
The authorities in Tehran are intensifying their crackdown across the country, particularly in the Kurdish areas as they fear another wave of protest could engulf the country. Tens of thousands of people have been detained since the outbreak of nationwide protests in January, with a significant number accused of collaborating with Israel and the US, whom Tehran sees as its arch enemies.
The Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that intelligence forces arrested four men in Bukan, West Azerbaijan province, early Tuesday, identifying them as Hassan Mahmoudi, Navid Mostafazadeh, Aram Vafaei, and Fattah Hajizadeh.
Mahmoudi, a Sunni prayer leader, was among those detained during raids involving dozens of military vehicles. Hengaw said security forces blocked roads surrounding the suspects' homes and carried out arrests without presenting judicial warrants.
It said security forces were “violent” in their conduct when arresting the men. In the case of the Sunni prayer leader, security forces confiscated his belongings.
The latest arrests come amid an intensifying crackdown across Iran's Kurdish-majority areas. According to Hengaw, at least 64 Kurds were arrested during October, accounting for more than half of the 124 arrests documented nationwide that month.
The soaring arrests in the Kurdish and Baluchi frontier regions comes amid an uptick in armed clashes and activity against security forces, with at least three members of Iran’s security forces killed on Tuesday in the southeastern Baluchi province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
In a separate report on Sunday, Hengaw said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence forces arrested three Kurdish residents of Oshnavieh - Zahed Seyedkarimi, Sadraddin Esmailzadeh, and Komar Royan - during raids on October 31 and November 1.
The organization said the whereabouts of all seven detainees remain unknown, with authorities providing no information about the reasons for their arrests or possible charges.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network has documented other recent arrests, including those of Kurdish teenagers in Baneh and Sanandaj, raising further concerns about detentions without warrants and restrictions on access to families and legal representation.
