According to reports received by the Hana Human Rights Organization, more than 40 days have passed since the arrest of Afshin Hossein Panahi, a resident of Sanandaj, yet no information is available regarding his fate or whereabouts.
Afshin Hossein Panahi was arrested on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at his workplace by security forces without being presented with any legal documents.
According to Hana’s sources, during these 40 days of detention, Mr. Hossein Panahi has been denied all his basic human rights, including visits, phone calls with his family, and access to a lawyer of his choice.
Afshin Hossein Panahi, 26, is married, a father of one child, originally from Dehgolan, and a resident of Sanandaj.
This civil activist, who has a history of working with environmental organizations, was previously sentenced in November 2017 by Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Saeedi, to eight and a half years in prison on charges of “organizing Nowruz celebrations and collaborating with a Kurdish party.” Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, six years of this sentence were enforceable.
Afshin Hossein Panahi, a civil activist from Dehgolan, has a history of previous arrests and interrogations by security agencies.
On April 26, 2020, after serving nearly three years in prison, he was granted conditional amnesty and released from Sanandaj Prison.
Earlier, on June 26, 2017, three days after the arrest of his brother, Ramin Hossein Panahi, he was arrested at his home by security forces.
In 2011, following his efforts to investigate the suspicious death of his brother, Ashraf Hossein Panahi, he was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the regime” and was released after serving his sentence.
His brother, Ramin Hossein Panahi, was a Kurdish activist and political figure born in the village of Qoruchay, Dehgolan County. At the age of 24, he was executed at dawn on Saturday, September 8, 2018, in Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj, alongside two other political prisoners, Zaniar and Loghman Moradi.