Iranian forces kill Yarsani Kurdish activist Pouria Naderi in Kermanshah

Hengaw – Thursday, August 20, 2026

Iranian Intelligence Department forces killed Pouria Naderi, a 29-year-old Kurdish Yarsani activist from Kermanshah (Kermashan) and former detainee of the Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement, during an armed clash in the city.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the clash occurred at around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 20, 2026, between Dareh Drezh (Mahdieh Township) and Jalalieh Township in Kermanshah. Naderi was killed and two Intelligence Department forces were wounded.

Naderi and his two brothers had previously been arrested by the Kermanshah Intelligence Department during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. He spent nearly three months in a security detention facility before being temporarily released on bail. He later refused to comply with further summonses and had been under continuous pursuit by security agencies since the January protests.

Sources told Hengaw that Intelligence Department forces, led by an officer identified as Kamrani, surrounded Naderi before the armed clash. Kamrani had previously been involved in other cases, including the killing of brothers Meysam Veisi and Mojtaba Veisi, prominent Kurdish Yarsani cultural activists and founders of the Dareh Drezh Library in Kermanshah.

In the ensuing exchange of fire, two Intelligence Department forces were wounded, while Naderi was fatally shot.