ABC blog

No information is available regarding the fate of Arman Ghafouri, an environmental activist and geography student at Marivan’s Payam-e Nur University who was arrested on July 30 by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence office in Marivan. As contradictory rumors circulate, officials have denied case information to Ghafouri’s family, keeping them in a state of anxiety and uncertainty.

On Sunday, August 26, social media users launched a Twitter storm campaign, #WhereIsArmanGhafouri, to demand that officials give answers about Ghafouri’s whereabouts. That same day, news sites Ferat and Jam’iat-e hoghugh-e bashar-e Kurdestan, quoting an informed source, reported that Ghafouri, a member of the Sabzchia association, had been killed by Information agents under torture. One day later, Jam’iat-e hoghugh- e bashar-e Kurdestan had deleted the report.

According to research conducted by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, officials have related contradictory information to Ghafouri’s family and others close to him following his arrest, occasioning them great concern. By keeping prisoners’ families in the dark about their whereabouts, officials punish family members and intensify their suffering.

On August 16, some news outlets reported that Ghafouri had been freed on bail. Three days later, this claim was denied by Ghafouri’s family.

On August 21, security officials told Ghafouri’s family that he would be freed within three days. On August 27, family and friends were told Ghafouri would make a phone call “two hours from now.” Rather than permitting Ghafouri proper access to a lawyer and contact with his family, they have sown false hopes with informal, unofficial contact.

Following reports of Ghafouri’s death under torture, the Ministry of Information office in Marivan contacted a number of civil society and environmental activists on August 27 to inform them that the Ministry of Information had not arrested him. One Marivan-based activist reports that it became clear following a great deal of back-and-forth that the intelligence division of the Revolutionary Guards had in fact taken Ghafouri into custody.

A number of activists went to the Marivan municipal governor’s office to follow up on the case. The municipal governor promised them that Ghafouri would call in three hours; the phone call did not take place. The activists returned to the municipal governor’s office five hours later, but were not able to obtain further information. Concern over Ghafouri’s well-being has therefore increased, and his family remains in a state of anxiety and uncertainty.

According to Iranian law, responsibility for the lives of prisoners and detainees rests with the Prisons Organization and the Judiciary. Paragraph B of Article 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the Ministry of Information and Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence division can act on behalf of judicial authorities.

Arman Ghafouri had previously been arrested on March 12, 2018, along with eight other civil society activists while participating in a demonstration to condemn the Turkish army’s assault on Afrin. In that instance, Ghafouri was freed on five million toman ( c. 1200 USD) collateral.