Five Kurdish Labor and Civil Activists Summoned in Sanandaj

IranWire sources in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, report that at least five Kurdish labor and civil activists have been summoned to the Sanandaj Intelligence Office.

Hajar Saeedi, Fardin Mirki, Eghbal Shabani, Issa Moradi and Ramin Karimi were summoned on the morning of February 9. The reasons for summons are not yet known.

Hajar Saeedi, Fardin Mirki and Eghbal Shabani have a history of being summoned and arrested and have previously been jailed at Sanandaj Central Prison.

Saeedi, a women’s rights activist, was arrested by Sanandaj security forces in 2020 and sentenced to five years suspended imprisonment by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, headed by Judge Saeedi, on charges of "propaganda against the regime" and "membership in opposition parties." The verdict issued by the Revolutionary Court said hat she was obliged to report to the Sanandaj Intelligence Office once every four months.

Mirki, a labor activist and former member of the Coordinating Committee to form Labor Unions, was also arrested by security forces affiliated with the Sanandaj Intelligence Service in 2014, and charged with "membership in the Coordination Committee" and "opposition parties" by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Eghbal Shabani is a labor activist in Kurdistan and an inspector for the Sanandaj Bakers' Union. This labor activist was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to three years suspended imprisonment by Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court.

And at least 22 other Kurdish citizens have been detained in Kurdish cities in the past two weeks, according to human rights organizations.