According to reports received by Avatoday, on the evening of Tuesday, October 28, 2025, Khezr (Shamal) Rasoul-Marwat, a former Kurdish political prisoner and civil rights activist from the Kurdish city of Mahabad, was arrested at his home by Iranian intelligence agents and taken to an unknown location.
A reliable local source stated that security forces entered his house without presenting a judicial warrant and detained him. As of this report’s publication, there is no information regarding the reasons for his arrest, his whereabouts, or the charges against him.
Rasoul-Marwat has a long history of arrests and political convictions. He was first detained in August 1999 by intelligence forces and sentenced by the Mahabad Revolutionary Court to three years in prison and five years of suspended imprisonment. After serving two years, he was conditionally released. Despite passing the entrance exam for a master’s program, he was denied further education due to his political background.
In February 2013, Rasoul-Marwat was again arrested during a protest in support of the burned schoolgirls of Shinabad in front of the Mahabad Education Department. He was held for three months in the intelligence detention centers of Mahabad and Urmia, where he was interrogated.
Later, in October 2013, the Mahabad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Javadi-Kia, sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security.” This verdict was upheld by Branch 10 of the Urmia Court of Appeal in December 2013.
Throughout his imprisonment, Rasoul-Marwat was frequently transferred between different prisons. In March 2014, he was exiled to Urmia Prison, and in April 2014, he was transferred back to Mahabad Prison.
The pressure on him continued: in September 2016, he was moved to Miandoab Prison on the orders of the Mahabad prosecutor’s office and the prison warden.
His latest arrest is seen by human rights observers as part of the renewed crackdown on Kurdish activists in western Iran.
