December Protests – Iranian authorities arrest 13 additional Kurds as wave of arrests continues

Hengaw – Tuesday, January 6, 2026

At least 13 Kurdish individuals were arrested by Iranian government forces in connection with the December protests across multiple cities, including Marivan, Kermanshah, Dehloran, Ilam, Badreh, Songhor-e Koliaei, Sarableh, Karzan, Abdanan, and Darrehshahr.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights,  Reza Dousti-Nejad (24) and Mohammad Jalilian, an employee at Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah, were detained by government forces on Monday, January 5, 2026, and transferred to undisclosed locations.

One day earlier, on Sunday, January 4, several arrests were carried out in different parts of Ilam Province and neighboring areas. Those detained included Mohammad-Amin Mahmoudian (18) and Ahmadreza Mahmoudian from Sarableh; Artin Sohrabi, a 17-year-old teenager; Amin Yousefi (26); Alireza Pariyab (27) from Dehloran; Ali Darabi (22) from Darrehshahr; Amirhossein Abbasi (23) from Abdanan; and Arman Dadfar (22) from Badreh.

Further arrests on the same day were reported in Songhor-e Koliaei, where Keyumars Va’ezi, a teacher and former political prisoner, and Mehdi Bagheri, a civil activist, were detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during protest-related operations.

Additional detainees identified during the same wave of arrests include Ahmadreza Mohammadian from Karzan and Hatem Ebrahimi from Marivan.

No official information has been released regarding the whereabouts, legal status, or charges brought against those detained.