Sirvan Hossein Panahi detained by security agents

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Sirvan Hossein Panahi, born in 1989 and the nephew of Anvar Hossein Panahi, was detained on January 9th and transferred to an undisclosed location.

According to obtained reports, plainclothes officials from the Ministry of Intelligence raided the home of Sirvan Hossein Panahi’s father in the rural village of Quruchay in Dehloran County. The Intelligence agents arrived at the remote village in 4 vehicles and raided the home of Servin’s Hossein Pahani’s father. They conducted a rigorous search, confiscated personal items, detained the nephew of Kurdish political prisoner Anvar Hossein Panahi and transferred him to an undisclosed location.

In the past 6 years since the incarceration of Kurdish activist Anvar Hossein Panahi, more than 33 members of his family have been arbitrarily arrested. His brother Ashraf Hossein Pahani who was collecting evidence to substantiate his innocence was killed under suspicious circumstances while travelling to Tehran to deliver the evidence.

Security forces arrested Kurdish activist Anvar Hossein Panahi on November 5, 2007 and transferred him to the detention center at the Ministry of Intelligence. His family was kept in the dark for 6 months while he was severely tortured. In 2008 he was sentenced to death on charges of “acting against national security”, “collaborating with a Kurdish political party” and “moharebeh” (enmity with god). After tireless efforts and protests on the part of human rights activists, his death sentence was later commuted to 6 years in prison. Anvar Hossein Panahi is currently serving his sentence behind bars in Sanandaj prison.