Kurdistan Human Rights Network

By Awat Pouri Introduction According to the Open Data Website of Iran, an average of 21,000 hectares of forests and pastures in Iran burn annually. Based on the statistics of the Green Association of Chiya of Marivan, in the latest fire that occurred from August 12 to 16 in the forests around Marivan, two thousand and thirty-five hectares were burnt. This is while government authorities...

Iranian security forces detained Kurdish civil activist Dana Lanjabadi on 20 February in the city of Marivan (Mariwan in Kurdish), where a local court explained his charges as that of "propaganda against the state" and ordered his one-month detention for investigation at the local branch of the intelligence ministry, Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learnt from its sources. The security forces that detained him...

Security forces raided the home of Kurdish Sunni cleric Mohammad Sharifi in Bukan, West Azerbaijan Province, arresting him without a warrant on 27 August. Sources indicate that during the operation, officers forced their way into the cleric's home, breaking doors and windows in the process. They also confiscated his personal belongings. Details of the charges brought against Sharifi and his current whereabouts remain unknown. The incident follows...

After several days of relentless efforts by environmental activists and teams dispatched from various cities in Kurdistan, the raging wildfires that devastated the forests of Marivan, Kurdistan province, continue to pose a significant challenge. In an interview with the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), one of the environmental activists present in the affected area confirmed the presence of a human element in the extensive wildfires,...

The Special Clerical Court of Hamadan, in west Iran, has recently summoned Sunni Kurdish clerics Madeh Karami and Abdoljabbar Lotfi for their support of anti-government protests. Karami, the imam of the village of Huyeh in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, was summoned to appear in court on 21 May. Lotfi, a teacher and imam at the Ershad mosque in Sanandaj, has been summoned to the clerics' court for...