Iranian authorities intensify pressure on media activist Asaad Obeidi, threaten his family

Hengaw – Thursday, October 30, 2025

Asaad Obeidi, a 25-year-old media activist from Baneh (Bana) and currently residing in Erbil (Hewlêr) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has been subjected to increasing pressure by security agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent months. His family has been repeatedly summoned and threatened in an apparent attempt to force him to halt his media and human-rights documentation activities.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, security forces, including the Intelligence Department, have intensified pressure on Obeidi’s family during recent weeks. Members of his family in Baneh have been summoned several times and interrogated regarding his work.

Hengaw has learned that Iranian security agencies have demanded that Obeidi cease his activities and have used intimidation tactics against his relatives to compel him to do so. Security-affiliated online accounts have also issued public threats against the media activist, warning of physical harm and urging him to stop his reporting.

Over recent years, Obeidi has worked as a cameraman, designer, and editor, contributing to documentary and media projects focused on human-rights conditions in Kurdistan. He also manages several widely followed social-media platforms that highlight rights violations and civil activism.

During the Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) uprising, Obeidi collaborated with Kurdish media outlets and human-rights organisations, collecting and disseminating information on human-rights abuses and supporting documentation and awareness-raising efforts across Kurdistan.

Hengaw condemns any form of pressure, intimidation, or threats against media and human-rights activists by the Iranian authorities. The organisation calls on international human-rights institutions to monitor the situation closely and to provide protection and support to Obeidi.