Kurdish women’s rights activists in Iran are being subjected to pressure from the Intelligence Department of Sanandaj to make false confessions against themselves. Two activists, journalist Zhina Moddares Gorji and teacher Fariba Zand Karimi, have been detained in solitary confinement and deprived of contact with their families.
Zhina Moddares Gorji was arrested on April 10, 2023, by agents of the Intelligence Department as she was returning home from her workplace at a bookstore. She had previously been arrested and detained during the 2022 Iran uprising, and released on bail after 40 days of detention.
Fariba Zand Karimi, a contract teacher with the Department of Education and a women’s rights activist, was arrested on April 5, 2023, after being summoned to the Department of Intelligence of Sanandaj.
Bahar Zangiband, a physical education professor and women’s rights activist at Azad University in Sanandaj, has also been targeted by security forces. She has been banned from teaching and working at the university, and was arrested during the 2022 Iran uprising. Zangiband has been accused of disrupting public order and propagating against the state, and was released on bail on October 8, 2023, pending further proceedings.
The arrests and pressure on Kurdish women’s rights activists have been widely condemned by human rights groups. Amnesty International has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Zhina Moddares Gorji and Fariba Zand Karimi, stating that their detention is “part of a wider pattern of persecution of Kurdish activists and human rights defenders in Iran”. The organization has also called for an end to the harassment of Bahar Zangiband, and for all charges against her to be dropped.
The Kurdish community has long complained of discrimination and persecution by the Iranian authorities, and Kurdish activists have faced arrest and imprisonment for their advocacy of Kurdish rights and autonomy.
The international community has a responsibility to hold the Iranian government accountable for its treatment of Kurdish women’s rights activists and to call for their release. The targeting of human rights defenders and activists is a violation of international law, and must be condemned and stopped.
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