According to a report received by Avatoday, Bafrin Maroufi, a Kurdish political prisoner and 44-year-old resident of Bukan, was released from Urmia Central Prison on Tuesday, September 9, after serving three months and 14 days of her sentence. Previous reports indicated that she had been sentenced by Branch 101 of the Bukan Criminal Court to four months and seven days in prison on charges of “collaboration with the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.”
On February 1, 2025, Maroufi was arrested without a court order at her home in Bukan by intelligence agents and transferred to the Urmia Intelligence Detention Center. After 16 days in custody, she was temporarily released on bail on February 15. She was later returned to the women’s ward of Urmia Central Prison on June 13 to serve her sentence and was finally released after completing the prison term.
Arrest of Mehdi Ramazani
Mehdi Ramazani, a bodybuilding athlete and Kurdish citizen from Qorveh, was beaten and arrested without a court warrant following a raid by intelligence forces on his home. According to reports, there is currently no information about his whereabouts or the reasons for his arrest, leaving his family in complete uncertainty.
This arrest once again highlights the systematic repression of the Kurdish community in Iran, manifested in arbitrary detentions, pressure on civil and cultural activists, and violence against Kurdish athletes and youth. Human rights activists emphasize that such actions not only violate fundamental rights but also reflect the Islamic Republic’s ongoing attempt to silence dissenting voices in the Kurdistan provinces of Iran.
