Various sources in the cities of Kermanshah, Orumiyeh, Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Mariwan, Mahabad and Bukan have told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) about the continued presence of anti-riot forces and the readiness of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in some of these cities.

According to these sources, the IRGC has deployed a large number of forces to protect the state centres and banks in the cities of Kermanshah since all the forces of the Provincial Police and the non-Indigenous Corps have been sent to the provinces where they were widespread protests.

On Monday 8 January 2018, following the release of a video about burning the photo of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, local forces of IRGC and the Security forces have been deployed widely on all of the city’s main streets. The presence of these forces has created an atmosphere of fear and horror in the city.

Also on January 07, IRGC forces surrounded Soma Bradost village in Orumiyeh for unknown reasons and controlled the Entry and exit of the village.

Despite the decline of protests in various cities of Kurdistan, security forces have stormed into the homes of citizens at night and arrested those who had been identified in the video of protests. Due to threat of families and Internet disruption, it is not possible to provide the accurate number and identity of the detainees of the recent protests. Guards and Security Officers in Sanandaj and Kermanshah have launched a Telegram channel called ‘Wanted’ including photos of a number of protesters in these cities in order to identify and detain them.

According to findings of KHRN, most of the detainees have been detained in Kermanshah and Orumiyeh. Now the majority of detainees (over 100 people) in these two cities are detained at the police, intelligence detention centres and the central prison of these cities.

KHRN has identified some students detained in the cities of Kermanshah, Orumiyeh, Shiraz and Rasht.

On Monday 1 January 2018, three students were arrested by security forces called Hesam Rashidzadeh (a student of Business Management from Bukan), Kourosh Haghighi (a student of civil from Bukan), and Shomal Khosravi (a student of civil from Saqez). There is no information about their fate.

On Friday, Dec 29, 2017, anti-riot forces and plainclothes forces arrested three students of Razi University of Kermanshah including Nabi Tardast (Master student in Sociology), Vahid Mazhari and Omid Jamshidi in Basij crossroad.

Omid Jamshidi and Nabi Tardast are currently detained in Ward 10 of Dizel Abad prison in Kermanshah, but there is no information about the fate of Vahid Mazhari.

On Wednesday, January 03, 2018, security forces arrested a Kurdish student (an accounting student at the University of Rasht) known as Salar Mubarak from Dehgolan and transferred to an unknown location.

During the past week, four students of Orumiyeh University called Turan Mehraban, Siwan Kalami, Salahuddin Yaqoubi, and Mohammad Javad Amir Sadeqi have been arrested by security forces at the University of Orumiyeh and transferred to the Orumiyeh Detention Centre. After two days, all the detained students except for Turan Mehrin were transferred to ward 13 of Orumiyeh Central Prison.

An informed source in Orumieh told KHRN that at least 60 protesters have been arrested by security forces in Orumiyeh. Twenty detainees have been transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison.

Three protesters arrested by security forces in Orumiyeh on Jan 03 have been identified as Qader Delan, Shahla Vahdatpur and Iraj Mohammadi.

A citizen released from Dizelabad prison in Kermanshah has told KHRN that 30 detainees were kept at this prison in a very poor condition.

According to him, 30 of the recent detainees in Kermanshah have been transferred to ward 10 (known as Adab ward) while there are only 12 beds in this ward and 18 detainees have to sleep on the corridor’s floor of this dirty ward. The lack of sanitation facilities, such as toilet and bath, has caused most of these detainees to become sick but the prison authorities disregard the health status of these people.

Moreover, Mukrian News agency has reported that the Mahabad Intelligence Office has given a warning to the site’s administrator (known as Khosrow Kardpour) on Dec 30, 2017, during a telephone call regarding the coverage of protests’ news by the Telegram Channel of the Mukheran News Agency.

Images of a number of detained students: