Over the last month, Iranian authorities have carried out an expansive campaign of arbitrary arrests of Kurdish activists. According to information compiled by several rights groups working on Iran, at least 97 Iranian Kurds have been detained in “Mahabad, Marivan, Sardasht, Naqadeh, Rabat, Piranshahr, Saqqez, Sanandaj, Bukan, Saravabad, Karaj, Kermanshah, and Tehran.” A letter summarizing these abuses, signed by numerous rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, calls for Iran to “immediately and unconditionally release all those arbitrarily detained and end the campaign of arbitrary arrests of Kurdish people,” as well as for the international community to raise these concerns with Iranian authorities.

Iranian authorities’ recent crackdown on Kurdish activists mirrors their broader repression of religious and ethnic minorities in the country, including Baha’is, Christian converts, and Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch communities.

Iran’s security agencies have a long history of violating detainees' due process rights and practicing torture with near-total impunity. Over the past three years alone, Human Rights Watch has documented a pattern of abuses by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization, including serious allegations of “psychological torture” by one of eight detained environmentalists, who have been imprisoned after numerous due process violations and unfair trials since January 2018. Iranian authorities should be urged to immediately end unconditionally release those arbitrarily detained and ensure those facing allegations of recognizable crimes have full access to their due process rights, including access to a lawyer of their choice.