Nine months of enforced disappearance: Uncertainty continues over the fate of Kurdish man Anwar Ramezanpour from Mahabad
Hengaw: Thursday, February 27, 2025
The fate of Anwar Ramezanpour, a Kurdish man from Mahabad, remains unknown eight months and 13 days after his abduction by state forces, as the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to evade responsibility—an act that constitutes a clear case of enforced disappearance.
According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, despite 257 days having passed since the abduction of Anwar Ramezanpour, a 34-year-old resident of Mahabad, no information is available regarding his well-being, whereabouts, or fate.
Sources familiar with the case report that Anwar Ramezanpour’s wife has approached the Intelligence Office in Mahabad, Baneh, Sanandaj, Tehran, and Urmia, as well as other security and judicial institutions, in an effort to obtain information about her husband, but she has received no answers.
Hengaw has learned that she initially reported his disappearance at the Mahabad Criminal Investigation Department. Ten days later, she was informed that her husband's case had been transferred to another agency under a judge’s order.
Anwar Ramezanpour, a construction worker, was abducted by state forces on Friday, June 14, 2024, near his home, just three days after returning from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Since then, no information has been available about his fate.
The systematic refusal of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s state institutions to acknowledge their responsibility for Anwar Ramezanpour’s arrest constitutes a blatant case of enforced disappearance.
In accordance with Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, Hengaw holds the Iranian state accountable for the abduction and disappearance of Anwar Ramezanpour and calls for the Islamic Republic of Iran to be held responsible. Hengaw further demands immediate access to legal representation, legal assistance for his family, and medical services for him.
