Hengaw releases special report on eve of new school year – 38 students detained in nine months

Hengaw – Monday, September 22, 2025

As Iran’s new academic year begins, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has issued a detailed report on the arrest of students and children under the age of 18 since January 2025. The majority of those detained are Kurdish and Baloch students — children who have long been systematically denied the right to study in their mother tongue. Now, widespread arrests by security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran threaten their lives and futures from early childhood and adolescence.

Hengaw’s Statistics and Documentation Center recorded the arrest of at least 38 students under the age of 18 by security forces in various Iranian cities during the first nine months of 2025. Of these, 20 were Kurdish students, accounting for nearly 52 percent of the total. Thirteen were Baloch children and adolescents (34.5 percent), four were Lor students (10.5 percent), and one was an Arab student (2.5 percent).

Breakdown of detained students by province

Sistan and Baluchestan Province

1. Amir Baloch – 17 – Sarbaz

2. Khaled Kashani – 17 – Zahedan

3. Adel Safarzai – 16 – Zahedan

4. Ehsan Nasiri Motlagh – 15 – Zahedan

5. Shahbakhsh – 16 – Zahedan

6. Saleh Bahramzehi – 14 – Rask

7. Yousef Rasaneh – 16 – Rask

8. Mani Dahani – 16 – Sib and Suran

9. Nima Chakri – 17 – Saravan

10. Behzad Souri Zehi – 17 – Khash

11. Saeed Kordi-Tamandani – 15 – Khash

12. Abdullah Azizi – 17 – Qasr-e Qand

Kurdistan Province (Sanandaj/Sine)

1. Awraz Zamani – 17 – Kamyaran

2. Payam Hosseini – 17 – Kamyaran

3. Behrouz Rashidi – 17 – Kamyaran

4. Kavan Sabouri – 17 – Kamyaran

5. Ehsan Sabouri – 17 – Kamyaran

6. Soran Mozaffari – 17 – Kamyaran

7. Parsa Rostami – 17 – Sanandaj (Sine)

8. Keyhan Tadberi – 17 – Marivan

9. Mohammad Ghaderi – 17 – Marivan

West Azerbaijan Province (Urmia)

1. Ehsan Hamzehzadeh – 17 – Bukan

2. Milad Naseri – 17 – Bukan

3. Shaker Mohammadzadeh – 10 – Sardasht

4. Briar Mohammadiani – 14 – Sardasht

5. Avin Ahmadi – 16 – Urmia

6. Sariya Ahmadi – 17 – Urmia

7. Alan Tabnak – 16 – Oshnavieh (Shno)

8. Diyar Gorgol – 16 – Oshnavieh (Shno)

9. Zaniar Shadikhah – 17 – Oshnavieh (Shno)

Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province

1. Amirhossein Jafari – 17 – Dehdasht

2. Kamran Bozari – 16 – Dehdasht

3. Abolfazl Ghasemzadeh – 16 – Dehdasht

Khuzestan Province

1. Mohammad Ascharavi – 16 – Abadan

2. Parsa Ghasemi – 17 – Behbahan

North Khorasan Province

1. Kejal Salehi – 14 – Bojnourd

Kermanshah Province (Kermashan)

1. Wiria Amiri – 16 – Sarpol-e Zahab

Kerman Province

1. Shahram Bamari – 17 – Jazmourian

Systematic repression extending to education

These findings show that Iran’s policy of systematic repression against national and ethnic minorities extends beyond social and political arenas to the education sector, directly threatening the academic future of dozens of teenagers. Nearly one-third of the detained students — all under 18 — were arrested in recent days, coinciding with the third anniversary of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the start of the school year. Despite repeated efforts by families to obtain information, security and judicial authorities have provided no transparent updates on their situation.

Denial of the right to education

The detention of students forms part of an organized policy aimed at restricting access to education. This policy pushes many children and adolescents toward dropping out of school or entering child labor. It endangers their educational and social prospects, particularly among ethnic and national minorities. Widespread arrests at the start of the academic year, coupled with the ongoing denial of mother-tongue education, severely limit opportunities for continuing studies.

Privatization and commercialization of education, together with worsening poverty, have further undermined students’ right to schooling. Detentions and intimidation have compounded these barriers.

Increased pressure on students and teachers since “Woman, Life, Freedom”

Since the launch of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement, students have come under mounting pressure for expressing their demands in schools and on the streets. Security agencies have repeatedly summoned and detained them. At the same time, repression of teachers and their professional associations has intensified, often in retaliation for supporting students’ right to protest, advocating for instruction in their mother tongue, and working to improve educational quality.

These measures reflect deliberate policies aimed at silencing criticism of the education system and suppressing professional organizing in the sector.

International call for urgent action

Hengaw condemns this broad wave of repression and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained students. The organization urges the United Nations, UNICEF, and Amnesty International to take swift, effective measures to halt these repressive policies and guarantee the fundamental right to education for children in Iran.