During the past few days, Orumiyeh Intelligence Forces have arrested more than 50 Kurdish people participating in the protest against the sexual harassment of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Islamabad town (Orumiyeh) and transferred them to the Intelligence Detention Centres and Orumiyeh Central Prison.
According to reports received by Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), on Monday, October 23, the family and a number of relatives of a 12-year-old schoolgirl sexually harassed by the school janitor gathered at the schoolyard and demanded the offender’s arrest. During the past few days following this incident, Orumiyeh Intelligence Forces have arrested 50 of Kurdish citizens overnight at their houses.
“On Thursday midnight, Oct 26, 2017, Orumiyeh security forces divided 50 detainees in groups of 10 and transferred them to Orumiyeh Central Prison where they were beaten by one of the guards known as Amir Ghadabaghi and his assistant called Ali Eleazari.”, an informed source told KHRN.
“20 of these detainees were transferred to ward 13 while the remaining 30 detainees were transferred to wards 3&4. An undetermined number of detainees also remain in solitary confinement cells of the Security and Intelligence of Orumiyeh.,” the source added.
KHRN has identified 24 of the detainees as: Amir-Taleb-e-Marneh (former political prisoner), Nader Nojavan Jahani, Shafiq Nojavan Jahani, Osman-Khezri (brother of Hussein Khezri, executed political prisoner) and his son, Behroz Khezri, Parviz Khezri, Naser Vakili, Farhad Shojayi, Erfan Maddah, Vali Haki, Mohammad Khalil Seyedi, Vahid Daneshyar, Amir Farjami, Behzad Javidi, Afshar Teymoorzadeh, Shorresh Mohi, Mahdi Atmani, Mehrdad Mahmoodi(son of Rasoul), Iraj Hamedi(son of Mousa) Naser Rashidi (son of Hassan), Mohsen Shirzad( son of Mohammad Saeed, Amin Hassan Pour( son of lezgin) and Keyvan Mirzayi (son of Mohammad).
In the past two days, Iranian officials in Orumiyeh have made contradictory statements on the incident. Ourmiyeh’s governor had gone amongst the protesters yesterday and announced the arrest of the school janitor charged with sexual harassment. However, the Political-Security Deputy of the governor for Western Azerbaijan denied that there had been any sexual harassment other than some sexual misconduct.
Unlike some Kurdish MPs, Ghazipour (the extremist MP of Ourmiyeh) expressed his serious concern while writing to the three important ministries including Ministry of Intelligence, Ministry of Justice, and the Interior Ministry. “The accident in “Rahe Shohada” School in Ourmiyeh seems to be closely related to the referendum in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”, Ghazipour wrote in his letter.
On Monday, a 12-year-old student living in Islamabad (Orumiyeh) told her family about her sexual harassment by the school janitor of “Rahe Shohada”. Once she was examined and the doctors confirmed that sexual harassment had happened, on Oct 23, 2017, the family and a number of relatives of the student gathered at the schoolyard and demanded the arrest of school janitor. With the massive Spread of the news among the Kurdish citizens living in the town, hundreds of angry protesters joined the relatives of this young girl and broke down the school windows in addition to turning the suspect’s car over.
Following the spread of the protests, the gathering was dragged into other streets and the clash between the large number of riot forces present in the streets and the protesters continued until late last night. Protesters attacked and damaged two other schools called “Dianat” and “Badbaki” in addition to Mobilization Office (Basij) of Ghods Mosque. At least 10 people suffered from arm and face fractures in the clash with the riot forces.
