Three Kurds, including two former political prisoners, arrested in Piranshahr

Hengaw – Sunday, August 23, 2026

Three Kurdish men, Soran Mahmoudi, Mohammad Daneshmayeh, also known as Mohammad Bivafa, and Loqman Seydeh, have been arrested by Intelligence Department forces and transferred to undisclosed locations. Mahmoudi and Daneshmayeh are former political prisoners.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Intelligence Department forces arrested Mahmoudi and Daneshmayeh in Piranshahr during the early hours of Sunday, August 23, 2026.

Meanwhile, Intelligence Department forces raided Pasveh village, near Piranshahr, arrested Seydeh, and transferred him to an undisclosed location.

Hengaw sources said the forces arrested all three men at their homes without presenting warrants. Authorities have provided no information about the reasons for their arrests or any charges against them. Since their arrests, all three have been denied phone calls, family visits, and access to a lawyer.

Mahmoudi was previously arrested in October 2023 and transferred to Naqadeh Prison after completing interrogation. He was temporarily released on November 13, 2023, after posting bail of 3 billion tomans. Branch 1 of the Mahabad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Dousti, subsequently sentenced him in May 2024 to three years in prison on the charge of “membership in and cooperation with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.”

Daneshmayeh was also arrested by Iranian security forces in 2023.