ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish detainee died on Friday night after being tortured in Sanandaj, the city which has become the epicenter of the nationwide anti-government protests in Iran, with his body being secretly buried by agents of the ministry of intelligence, Rudaw English has learned.
Ramin Fatehi, 47, and a father of one was detained on October 13 by agents of Iran's ministry of intelligence outside the city of Sanandaj city as he was driving his pick-up truck. The agents then proceeded to his family home where they detained another brother named Voria, and the following morning, their sister Rada was taken.
"We did not have any news about them over the past nine days that have been taken," his brother Chiako Fatehi told Rudaw English via telephone. "My family went to the intelligence office but were not given any news about my siblings."
The Kurdish areas have seen intense and violent protests over the past five weeks since the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini while in morality police custody in Tehran on September 16. At least 40 protesters have been killed in the Kurdish areas, with over 800 wounded and several thousands detained, according to Kurdish human rights oranisations.
"Last night, they called a relative and said that Ramin has died and asked him to come and identify the body," Chiako Fatehi said. "By the time the relative arrived in their office it was around 10:30 and then they only allowed him to see his face and not examine his body." The agents then appear to have taken the body to the Behesht Mohamadi cemetery in Sanandaj where they buried Ramin Fatehi without any family members present.
"Today we received information from a very reliable source that Ramin died under torture and he did not commit suicide as the authorities claim," Chiako said as he cried during the phone call.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Hengaw the two main organisations that monitor human rights violations in the Kurdish areas have both quoted sources stating that Ramin Fatehi died under torture.
Fatehi said that he does not know why his brother Ramin was detained in the first place. "I don't even know whether he took part in the protest but I can tell you more than 80 percent of the people of Sanandaj have taken part," Chiako Fatehi, a Peshmerga of the leftist Komala party told Rudaw Englsih from Sulaimani.
Iranian authorities have blamed the Kurdish opposition groups of being behind the protests in the country and have launched an extensive misinformation campaign on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) platforms and Iranian state television against these groups.
Chiako Fatehi said that his brother became a Peshmerga of Komala from 2015 until 2017 when he travelled to Europe illegally through a network of human smugglers. He was detained by Serbian authorities and handed back to Turkey where he was transferred from back to Iran's ministry of intelligence custody.
Another Kurdish protester Nima Shafaqdoost was reportedly killed under torture in Urmia city but the head of the police later claimed that he was bitten by a dog and he died from infection.
At least 215 people have been killed by the security forces and the protest have seen no sign of abating despite claims by the Iranian authorities that the protests have effectively come to an end. As of Saturday afternoon, Kurdish areas have gone on strike with businesses shutting down and a number of universities and thousands of factory workers across Iran on strike.
Berlin is expected to see tens of thousands of Iranians today, protesting against the brutality of the regime in Tehran and call for its overthrow.
