This article originally appeared in Kurdistan 24.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iranian intelligence services have begun storming the homes of certain Kurds in a city in Kermanshah (Kermashan) Province, without any official documents, alleging they are in possession of alcoholic beverages, a rights group reported Wednesday.
“The officers raided my house at 11 o’clock at night without a warrant and thoroughly searched every room,” one person from Paveh (Pawa), Kermashan, told Hengaw, a group writing on human rights violations involving Kurds in Iran.
The group added that the officers in question were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), specifically its Intelligence Protection Organization (IPO).
“They said they were looking for alcohol when they entered. However, once inside, the officers added they were also searching for weapons, the Kurdistan Flag, and pictures of Kurdish revolutionaries,” the civilian continued.
Reports are yet to indicate if similar operations are ongoing in other cities in the Kurdish provinces.
Recently, Tehran has concentrated efforts against opposition groups of different ethnic and religious minorities in Iran seeking freedom for their people, who have been oppressed and discriminated against for decades, if not centuries, through racially biased policies.
Authorities regularly accuse residents of small towns and villages of aiding or being associates of these parties. The armed wings of these opposition groups periodically launch attacks on members of the Iranian army.
Over the span of one week in October, intelligence services arrested six young Kurds in Kurdistan Province on charges of aiding the opposition, notably as the frequency of clashes between the Islamic Regime and armed wings of Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) parties increased.
The man whose house was searched claimed that intelligence services examined hundreds of other homes as well.
Pawa is a small, close-knit community of 25,000. Most of the city’s populations are Kurds speaking its Hawrami dialect.
Editing by Nadia Riva
This article was originally published in Kurdistan 24.
