Five Kurdish citizens were detained in recent days and the fate of four of them remains unknown. Another 20 individuals, arrested recently across West Azerbaijan province, have been relocated to Orumiyeh Central Prison, local sources told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) on 21 and 22 March.
Hovyar Zahabi and Jalal Alavi were arrested on 21 March in the city of Mahabad. Vahab Hosseinzadeh and Avat Sargeli were arrested in the same area on 19 March. Their fate remains unknown.
Kaveh Abdollahzadeh was arrested on 19 March on Mahabad-Naqadeh road and has since been held in Naqadeh prison.
Sources familiar with the recent relocation of the 20 detainees to Orumiyeh Central Prison said they were Kurdish citizens arrested recently in different parts of West Azerbaijan province, but their individual identities are not yet known.
Iran’s IRGC Intelligence Organization and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence have been carrying out these arrests across Iran’s Kurdish regions.
Detention and security facilities run by these agencies have been bombed in six Kurdish areas of Iran since 28 February by US and Israeli aircraft.
Due to the state-imposed internet blackout amid the ongoing war, there is no information about the fate of dozens of Kurdish detainees arrested during the anti-government protests of January 2026.
A source previously told KHRN that at least two detained Kurdish citizens were killed in the bombing of the Mahabad Intelligence Office. However, KHRN has not yet been able to verify the identities of those two detainees allegedly killed at that site.