Esmaeil Sanyar, a former political prisoner and long-time civil rights activist, has been arrested once again by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence in Bukan, located in West Azerbaijan Province.
According to information obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), intelligence agents stormed Sanyar’s family residence in the early hours of 2 July 2025. The arrest was made without a court-issued warrant, and he was subsequently taken to the Ministry’s detention facility in Orumiyeh.
Sanyar is no stranger to political persecution. His most notable prior arrest occurred on 13 December 2015, when he was also detained by Ministry agents in Bukan. At that time, he was held for a month and interrogated on suspicions of sharing information with foreign human rights groups and media outlets. After a period in Bukan Prison, he was released on bail.
On 6 March 2016, Sanyar was acquitted by Branch 101 of Bukan’s Public Court. However, the case was appealed, and in December 2016, the Orumiyeh Court of Appeal sentenced him to three years in prison for allegedly “acting against national security” due to supposed ties with the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). He began serving his sentence in 2019 and was released in April 2020 under a Newroz amnesty.
Sanyar’s history of arrests also includes a brief detention in 2006, highlighting the ongoing pattern of state repression against Kurdish civil activists in Iran.
