Kurdistan Human Rights Network

A group of retired employees of the Telecommunication Company of Iran took to the streets in Kermanshah, Kermanshah Province, today to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with their living conditions and to press for the resolution of various issues. The protests were not limited to Kermanshah, as similar demonstrations by retired telecom workers took place simultaneously in several cities across the country. The main demands of the pensioners...

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...

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...

The Special Clerical Court in Hamadan in western Iran sentenced Sunni Kurdish cleric Seyyed Jalal Akbari to two years suspended imprisonment on charges of "propaganda against the state" on 10 May. Akbari, the imam of a mosque in the village of Degagah in Sarvabad, Kurdistan province, was tried on 10 May and was informed of the court's decision on the same day. Since late March, the...

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Police Intelligence Organisation summoned at least ten labour activists in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, on 30 April and threatened them not to organise any celebrations. The summoned activists include Sosan Razani, Hajar Saeidi, Mozaffar Salehnia, Sharif Saedpanah, Kamran Sakhtemangar, Ramin Karimi, Rebwar Abdollahi, Towfigh Mahmoudi, Reza Amjadi, and Habibollah Karimi. Security interrogators questioned the activists for several hours and threatened them not...