Iran’s Security forces arrested a Kurdish Yarsan activist who was a resident of Neka (a city in the north of Iran) and transferred him to an unknown location.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that on Aug 30, 2017, Hossein Mansouri,a Kurdish Yarsan activist was arrested by security forces in Neka and transferred to an unknown location.
“This activist has only had one short telephone call with his family during his detention in order to inform them of arrest by a security agency,” the informed source added.
According to this source, “Mr. Mansouri is one of the exile Kurdish activists to northern Iran and he travelled to the religious centres of the Yarsan during the past few years and has also been active on social networks in this regard.”
Yarsanism (also known as Ahle Haqq) is a religion founded by Soltan Eshagh in Kurdistan’s Hawraman region in the 13th century. Followers of the Yari religion mostly live in the cities of Kermanshah, Lorestan, Hamedan and a few villages near Miandoab. Jamkhane is the Yarsani place of worship, where they play Tambourine and read Kalamkhani, verses of their holy book. This religion has not been recognised by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so the followers of this religion are always deprived of their citizenship rights such as employment in governmental offices and top posts, continuing their further education and parliamentary candidate ship.
