Iranian security forces arrest four Kurds in three cities

Hengaw – Saturday, August 15, 2026

Masoud Alani Kohneh-Qaleh, Amir Soleimani, Esmail Badsar, and Zakaria Badsar, four Kurdish individuals, have been arrested by Intelligence Department forces in Oshnavieh (Shno), Mahabad, and Bukan amid a continuing wave of arrests across Kurdistan.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Intelligence Department forces in Bukan detained Esmail Badsar for several hours to pressure his son, Zakaria Badsar, into turning himself in.

Posing as gas company employees, Intelligence Department forces entered the Badsar family home on the morning of Saturday, August 15, 2026. After finding Zakaria absent, they detained his father and told the family he would not be released until Zakaria turned himself in.

Zakaria Badsar turned himself in to the Bukan Intelligence Department that afternoon and was arrested, after which his father was released.

Separately, Intelligence Department forces arrested Masoud Alani Kohneh-Qaleh, a Kurdish singer from Singan village residing in Oshnavieh, at a café in the city around noon on Saturday without presenting a warrant. They subsequently raided his home and confiscated the mobile phones of his wife and daughter.

Alani Kohneh-Qaleh had previously been repeatedly summoned and arrested by security agencies for performing Kurdish songs and anthems.

Later that day, Intelligence Department forces raided the home of Amir Soleimani, a 44-year-old married father of two from Khorkhoreh village in Mahabad’s Sharviran district, and arrested him.

Soleimani is the brother of Hesam Soleimani, a political activist and Peshmerga member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.

Authorities have not disclosed the reasons for the arrests, the charges against Masoud Alani Kohneh-Qaleh, Amir Soleimani, and Zakaria Badsar, or their places of detention. The three have been denied access to legal counsel, phone calls, and family visits.