Security forces increase pressure on women activists in Sanandaj on Woman, Life, Freedom anniversary

Hengaw – Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Authorities in Sanandaj have intensified pressure on women activists as the third anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement is marked today. Four women’s rights defenders, Simin Chaychi, Fatemeh Zandkarimi, Marziyeh Moradveisi and Sosan Razani, were summoned by the Intelligence Department of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights indicates that Simin Chaychi, a poet and writer; Fatemeh Zandkarimi, a teachers’ union activist; and civil society activists Marziyeh Moradveisi and Sosan Razani were called in for questioning by the IRGC Intelligence office in Sanandaj on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

The four women were reportedly interrogated and threatened after appearing in response to the summons.

According to Hengaw sources, several teachers and a large number of justice-seeking families were also summoned and questioned at the same time.

Hengaw had previously reported that Sanandaj’s Intelligence Department had made coordinated and targeted phone calls to a number of women activists in the city, summoning some of them for questioning

These developments come as security forces, marking the third anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising, have expanded their presence across Kurdish cities, increasing pressure on civil and social activists and seeking to prevent gatherings or other civic initiatives.