Hana has learned that on Thursday, September 18, 2025, 17-year-old Zanyar Shadikhah and 24-year-old Mohsen Dahar, residents of the village of “Singan” in Oshnavieh, were arrested by the intelligence forces of the Ministry of Intelligence and transferred to an unknown location.
According to received reports, the arrests of Zanyar Shadikhah and Mohsen Dahar were carried out by security forces without a judicial warrant, at their parental homes.
Earlier, in the early hours of Wednesday, September 17, 2025, two 16-year-old children identified as “Diyar Gorgol” and “Alan Tabnak,” also from Oshnavieh, were illegally detained by security forces.
Hana Human Rights Organization, while expressing concern over the unclear legal status of these three Kurdish children, emphasizes that children, due to their vulnerable status, are entitled to special protective standards in legal proceedings, even if accused of a crime.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a party, and Article 9 of Iran’s Civil Code, pretrial detention should only be used as a measure of last resort and when strictly necessary. Similarly, Iranian domestic law under Article 287 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that, in principle, a child or adolescent should be entrusted to their parents or legal guardian, and pretrial detention is only permissible under exceptional circumstances during preliminary investigations.
Violations of children’s legal rights are not limited to the pretrial stage but extend to issues of competent courts and the special privileges granted to children and adolescents during court proceedings. These protective judicial standards include limiting pretrial detention, immediate access to family, prohibition of physical or psychological pressure, and access to appropriate legal counsel and a lawyer suited to the child’s situation.
Considering these standards, Hana Human Rights Organization holds the provincial prosecutor and the Director-General of Intelligence directly responsible for the physical and mental well-being of these children and calls for their immediate release.