According to reports received by the Hana Human Rights Organization, on 17 and 18 February 2026, two Kurdish minors—Mohammad Piri, 17, from Dehloran, and Mohammadjavad Zeini-Vand, 14, from Dareh Shahr in illam Province—were arrested by security forces and transferred to an undisclosed location.
The Hana Human Rights Organization expresses serious concern over the unclear legal status of these two Kurdish children, emphasizing that due to their vulnerability, children are entitled to special protective standards within legal systems, even when accused of an offense.
Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Iranian government is a party and which—pursuant to Article 9 of Iran’s Civil Code—has the force of domestic law, pre-trial detention must be used only as a last resort and strictly when necessary. In the same vein, Iran’s domestic law also provides for this principle under Article 287 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Accordingly, the default rule is to place the child or adolescent in the care of parents or a legal guardian, and detention during preliminary investigations is permissible only in strictly exceptional circumstances and upon establishing necessity.