Two Kurdish women arrested in Urmia and Piranshahr, whereabouts unknown
Hengaw – Thursday, August 20, 2026
Two Kurdish women, Nazanin Hosseinpour and Bafrin Ahmadoush, have been arrested by Iranian security forces in Piranshahr and Urmia. Five days after their arrests, their whereabouts and condition remain unknown.
According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Nazanin Hosseinpour, 34, a married mother of two young children from the village of Shinawi in Piranshahr County, was arrested on August 16, 2026, after being summoned to and reporting to the local Intelligence Ministry office. She was subsequently taken to an undisclosed location.
Hosseinpour is the primary caregiver and provider for her family. Her husband has cancer, and she is responsible for caring for him, their two young children and her husband’s elderly parents, who are also in poor health.
On the same day, Bafrin Ahmadoush, from the village of Kachaleh in Urmia County, was arrested without the presentation of a warrant during an IRGC Intelligence raid on the homes of two of her uncles in the village. She was arrested alongside them and taken to an undisclosed location.
Hengaw previously reported that a large number of security forces surrounded Kachaleh before raiding the homes of Ahmadoush’s uncles, Shaban Ahmadoush and Ebrahim Ahmadoush. The two men and another resident, Ayvaz Behnamoun, were arrested during the operation, which involved the use of force.
No information was available regarding the reasons for the women’s arrests, the charges against them, their places of detention or their current condition. Their families’ efforts to obtain information about them have so far been unsuccessful.
