The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), an independent and non-profit organization dedicated to education, awareness and documentation of human rights violations in Kurdistan/Iran, released their July report that reflects some cases of human rights violations in Kurdistan and violations of the rights of Kurdish civilians in different regions and cities in Iran. According to the data, which was collected through the organization’s own sources, violations include executions, femicides, killing of civilians and arrests.

Iran executed four prisoners on charges of premeditated murder, “spreading corruption on the land” (efsad-e fel arz) and drug-related charges. Meanwhile, four women were killed by their family members in different cities of Iran. Two of them were killed by their husbands, one by her father, and the other by a man she refused to marry. In addition, five kolbars, workers who legally or illegally carry goods on their backs across the border, were killed and 14 were injured as a result of shelling by Iranian border guards. At least seven people were sentenced to between four months’ suspended sentence and the death penalty. Iranian forces also killed two civilians during July in the provinces of Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan, and detained at least 32 people, some of whom were sent to prisons to serve their sentences. Among the detainees were activists, religious figures and family members seeking justice.

The Kurds are a significant national minority in Iran numbering approximately 9-10 million, predominantly inhabit the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Western Azerbaijan, Ilam, and Lorestan. They have been waging a long and difficult struggle for its rights and political independence in Iran, and uprisings aimed at gaining autonomy have occurred periodically throughout history and the 20th century in particular.

During the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Kurds supported the Islamic regime in the hope of improving their situation and establishing self-government, but later the government turned against them and took sharp repressive measures. The developed anti-Kurdish policy included, among other things, the presentation of the Kurds as a threat to institutional security, attempts to distort Kurdish demands and divide opposition groups and also mass destruction of Kurdish villages and towns took place.

The death of Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022 triggered the “women-life-freedom” protests in Iran, which grew into a nationwide wave and became a particularly important step in the struggle for greater autonomy and self-government for Kurds and other ethnic minorities in Iran. In response, the Iranian government launched a crackdown that killed more than 400 protesters.

According to Freedom House, there are certain restrictions on freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The country regularly holds elections, but they do not meet democratic standards due to the influence of the rigid Guardian Council, which disqualifies candidates disloyal to the clerical establishment. All power is concentrated in the hands of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the unelected institutions he controls, which are used to suppress dissent and restrict civil liberties. Dissent has also been suppressed in universities, with arrests and dismissals of students and professors who support the protests.