Kurdish political detainee Dler Salimi held under torture and pressure for forced confessions

Hengaw – Tuesday, December 2, 2025

168 days after his arrest, Dler Salimi, a Kurdish man from Saqqez, remains in detention at the Ministry of Intelligence facility in Sanandaj (Sine). His case remains stalled, and his temporary detention order has been extended once again.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Salimi has been subjected to continuous torture and coercive interrogations aimed at extracting confessions against himself.

He has been denied access to legal representation and barred from in-person family visits, receiving only a limited number of restricted phone calls.

For months, his family has repeatedly sought answers from security and judicial agencies in Saqqez, Sanandaj, and Tehran, including submitting appeals to the Office of the Supreme Leader. However, all institutions have declined to provide information, referring them back to the Sanandaj Intelligence Office, which has also withheld any updates.

Hengaw has learned that Salimi was briefly transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison on November 17, 2025, but was returned to the Intelligence Detention Center two days later. His temporary detention order has since been extended again, leaving him in ongoing uncertainty.

Salimi was arrested on Tuesday, June 17, 2025 during the wave of mass detentions carried out amid the Iran–Israel conflict. Four days later, his wife, Zhila Tashakori, was summoned to the Saqqez Intelligence Office and subsequently arrested. Security forces also confiscated all of the family’s electronic devices, including their mobile phones and computers.

Tashakori was released on August 20, 2025 on temporary bail of 1 billion tomans, pending ongoing judicial proceedings.