Urgent Alert: Mass Repression and Internet Blackouts in Iran — Focus on Rojhelat, Baluchistan, and Al-Ahwaz

Official Letter / Formal Statement

Subject: Urgent political and human rights warning regarding organized repression, internet shutdowns, mass arrests, and “silent collective violence” in the geography referred to as Iran — with a special focus on Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat), as well as Baluchistan and Al-Ahwaz

To: International and national media, global human rights organizations, international institutions, embassies and foreign ministries, parliaments and elected representatives, and all freedom-loving people of the world

From: Kurdistan Independence Movement (based on field and news monitoring by “Kurdnation”)

Date: Ongoing update — (the documented time reference of this text is mainly from 28 December 2025 to 9 January 2026)

Distinguished authorities, respected representatives, and the freedom-loving public of the world,
We publish this letter/statement with a sense of urgency and deep concern; because what has occurred in recent weeks in the geography referred to as Iran — since the start of a new wave of protests on 28 December 2025 — is no longer merely an “internal crisis” or a “security response to protests.” What we are witnessing is an organized combination of state repression, collective punishment, information warfare, systematic internet shutdowns, and mass arrests; a package which, in some areas — especially in Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat) — has taken on a targeted and punitive character and must be properly recognized by the global community as an organized campaign against a civilian population.

This text is a comprehensive report-letter in an article-style format; written in a way that is both suitable for public publication and for submission to diplomatic, human rights, and media institutions.

1) Context and trajectory of developments: from livelihood demands to structural protests

The recent protests began on 28 December 2025, centered on the livelihood crisis, inflation, the collapse of the national currency, and the breakdown of purchasing power. But within a short period, in many cities they moved beyond economic demands and expanded into political and structural protest against the status quo. At the same time, strikes — especially in the western regions and Kurdistan — as an effective form of civil resistance, played an important role in sustaining the wave, linking cities together, and increasing collective capacity for protest.

2) The government’s response pattern: violent repression, mass arrests, and information warfare

Based on field reports and aggregated human rights and media data, the government’s response in most areas has been accompanied by the following components:

1. a) On-the-ground violence and use of coercive force

Multiple reports indicate the use of tear gas, beatings, pellet-gun fire, and in some cases live fire. Night raids on homes and arrests in late-night hours have been reported as a recurring pattern. Widespread reports also indicate security pressure on families to remain silent, refrain from informing the public, and prevent ceremonies and gatherings.

1. b) Mass arrests and judicial–security pressure

Arrests have encompassed a wide range of people: street protesters, local activists, students and youth, merchants, and ordinary citizens. There are reports of detainees being transferred to security centers, intense interrogations, denial of adequate access to lawyers, pressure to extract confessions, and the imposition of forced undertakings.

1. c) Internet shutdowns and communications blackouts

At key moments, the internet in Tehran and then, more broadly, was cut off or severely restricted. This measure has clear and foreseeable consequences:

• Weakening independent information flows and increasing uncertainty about the number of victims
• Making relief efforts and families’ contact with medical and assistance centers more difficult
• Making documentation and verification of violations harder, thereby creating practical impunity for perpetrators of repression

From a human rights perspective, restricting communications in crisis conditions is a tool to intensify violence and increase casualties, as well as to conceal serious violations.

1. d) Aggregated figures (minimum estimates and with uncertainty)

Due to communications cuts, the security climate, and restrictions on independent verification, precise unified statistics are not available. However, up to 9 January 2026, some aggregated estimates have reported dozens killed (approximately 42 to 45 people, including several children and adolescents) and more than 2,200 arrests. These figures are minimums, and with the continuation of repression and communications cuts, they may increase.

3) Urgent warning: “silent collective violence” and collective punishment in Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat)

What is unfolding today in Rojhelat Kurdistan must properly be called a form of silent collective violence: a pattern of repression designed precisely on the basis of cutting the victims’ connection to the world’s public opinion. The Iranian government increasingly uses nationwide or regional internet shutdowns, blackout of communications networks, and information warfare as tools of political control — not accidentally or temporarily, but consciously to isolate cities, conceal field realities, and provide the conditions for mass arrests, torture, enforced disappearance, and the killing of citizens away from public and international oversight.

This pattern bears an alarming resemblance to recognized dynamics of “impunity” in the region; where repeated crimes against civilians, due to the absence of effective international accountability, become routine and cost-free behavior. Silence and inaction at this juncture will be interpreted by perpetrators of repression as a green light.

4) Kurdistan and the Zagros: the active axis of protests and repression (with cities named)

According to reports and field monitoring, the wave of protests and severe security crackdowns has been reported across broad parts of Kurdistan and the Zagros, including:

• Kermashan (Kermanshah)
• Ilam, Malekshahi, Dehloran, Abdanan
• Lorestan: Khorramabad, Kuhdasht, Aligudarz, Azna
• Hamedan
• Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari: Shahrekord, Lordegan
• Yasuj
  and other areas of Kurdistan and the Zagros belt

The common pattern reported in these cities includes heavy securitization, checkpoints and route control, night raids, widespread arrests, pressure on families to remain silent, and restrictions on communications. In some locations, reports of live fire and fatalities have also been raised. In this context, the role of youth and social participation in organizing gatherings and sustaining civil resistance has been prominent and decisive.

A region-by-region account from Kurdistan

In Kurdistan’s cities (including Sanandaj, Saqqez, Mahabad, Marivan, and other areas), gatherings have continued with broad participation, and repression has been reported through pellet guns, tear gas, raids on homes, arrests of activists, and systematic pressure on families. Cases of protesters being killed (including adolescents), severe injuries, and widespread arrests in various locations have been recorded. The security environment in many cities is described as militarized, with increased presence of security forces at entrances/exits and in city centers.

• In Kermashan, gatherings involving youth and supported by parts of the public and bazaar merchants have formed and — despite heavy deployment of security forces, tear gas, beatings, and in some cases live fire — have continued in some neighborhoods. Arrests are reported as particularly notable in peripheral areas.

• In Ilam, and especially Malekshahi, there have been reports of live fire and protesters being killed. At various times the internet has been cut or restricted, and control of travel routes has increased. Security pressure on families not to inform the public and not to publicize the names of victims has also been reported.
• In Lorestan, especially Kuhdasht, there are reports of some of the harshest forms of repression, live fire, and fatalities/injuries. In Azna as well, local internet shutdowns, establishment of checkpoints, and night arrests have been reported as tools to control protests.
• In Abdanan, protests have taken place with participation of youth and families, and the response of security forces has included pellet-gun fire, severe beatings, and night arrests; reports of fatalities and injuries have also been raised.
• In Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, especially Shahrekord and surrounding areas, continuous gatherings have been reported, and security forces have responded with raids, pellet guns, and widespread arrests. Reports of fatalities, numerous injuries, and an intense security atmosphere have been raised.

5) The 18 Dey / 8 January strike: an unprecedented consensus and organized civil action

On 18 Dey 1404 (8 January 2026), a set of Kurdistan political forces — with differing orientations — issued a call for a general/nationwide strike. Based on field monitoring, the strike was implemented across wide parts of Kurdistan with notable participation in bazaars, workplaces, and some social institutions.

5.1) Independence-oriented signatories

• Kurdistan Independence Party
• Kurdistan Serbesti Party
• Yaristani Organization of Yari Kurd
• Union of Kurdistan Revolutionaries
• Kurdistan Independence Movement

5.2) Federalist-oriented signatories

• Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK)
• Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)
• Khebât Organization of Iranian Kurdistan
• Komala, Kurdistan Organization of the Communist Party of Iran
• Komala of Kurdistan Toilers
• Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan
• Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan

This simultaneity and overlap of calls — regardless of political differences — indicates an important political reality: Kurdistan society, in the face of repression and in defense of human dignity, has the capacity to create coordinated and organized civil action; and the strike has become one of the main tools of social linkage and civil resistance.

6) Baluchistan: intensified repression and a militarized–security atmosphere

In Baluchistan (Sistan and Baluchistan), protests have continued despite security pressure, and the dominant pattern of repression is described as severe and grounded in a militarized–security atmosphere. Reports indicate widespread arrests, threats against families, and restrictions on information. Due to limited communications and an information siege, providing precise disaggregated city-by-city statistics requires greater access; nevertheless, severe repression and mass arrests at the regional level have been reported.

7) Al-Ahwaz: systematic repression and organized pressure

In Al-Ahwaz/Khuzestan as well, gatherings and protests have been reported and the security response has been intense. The pattern includes arrests, intimidation, restriction of information, and systematic pressure, and there is serious concern regarding repression of the Arab people of Al-Ahwaz — repression that is understandable within the broader framework of denial of collective rights and the securitized handling of non-central identities.

8) Persian-majority cities and major centers

Alongside the peripheral regions, protests and security responses have also been reported in major cities:

• Tehran, as the initial focal point of the wave, has witnessed street gatherings, security crackdowns, and then an intensification of communications restrictions.
• In Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Qom, and several other cities, street protests and waves of arrests have been reported.
• In large cities, the government has turned — in addition to on-the-ground repression — to severe media control, securitization of the environment, and restriction of communications.

9) International law considerations: violated fundamental rights, occupation, and the right to self-determination

What is occurring in this crisis is in clear contradiction with recognized human rights principles and states’ obligations: the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, prohibition of arbitrary detention, the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression and access to information, and the right to peaceful assembly and protest.

At a structural level, the right of peoples to self-determination as a foundational principle of international law has central importance in this crisis; because a significant portion of violence and discrimination in non-Persian peoples’ regions is rooted in long-standing mechanisms of identity denial, deprivation, and the securitized treatment of collective demands.

Accordingly, we state clearly: we demand the withdrawal of the Iranian occupying power from our lands — the withdrawal of the Iranian occupier from the soil and territory of Kurdistan, Baluchistan, Al-Ahwaz, and other occupied homelands — and we insist that the end of occupation is a necessary condition for ending systematic repression, restoring human dignity, and establishing a just and sustainable order based on the will of peoples.

10) International reactions: not sufficient

In this period, the main axes of international reactions have generally included expressing concern about human casualties, emphasizing the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression, protesting internet shutdowns, and calling for the release of detainees connected to peaceful protests. However, from our perspective, the level of practical action and international deterrence still does not match the intensity and scope of violations. Continuation of a “concern-only” policy in the face of a pattern of “silent collective violence” effectively assists the continuation of repression.

11) The necessity of avoiding authoritarian alternatives and an approach grounded in the rights of peoples

Amid the protests, some currents attempt to appropriate popular protests in favor of authoritarian alternatives. We emphasize:

• The peoples of this geography have experienced both religious despotism and monarchical despotism, and do not see a return to the past as the solution for the future.
• Any project that pursues centralism, denial of peoples, and reproduction of a single-handed rule is the continuation of the same cycle of tyranny — even if presented with a different appearance.
• A sustainable solution is conceivable only within a framework of real pluralism, equality of peoples, and respect for the right to self-determination — including the practical end of occupation and the removal of the Iranian occupying apparatus from the homelands of non-Persian peoples.

12) Urgent and specific requests to governments, international bodies, human rights organizations, and the media

We expect the global community to move beyond verbal expressions of concern and place practical and specific measures on the agenda, including:

1. Official, explicit, and public condemnation of violent repression, use of lethal coercive force, and mass arrests.
2. Demand an immediate halt to violence and the release of political detainees and those detained in connection with peaceful protests.
3. Support the establishment and implementation of independent, international investigations into killings, torture, enforced disappearance, and widespread human rights violations.
4. Condemn internet shutdowns and the suppression of communications, and emphasize the necessity of free access to information and communications.
5. Take practical action to guarantee the people of Rojhelat and other silenced regions access to the global internet (including emergency and satellite solutions) in order to break the information siege, protect civilian lives, and enable documentation.
6. Examine accountability mechanisms, including targeted human rights sanctions against those who order and carry out repression, as well as supportive measures to protect victims and families.
7. Call on the media for professional, accurate, and persistent coverage — with special focus on silenced and peripheral regions — so that victims do not become invisible in the darkness of censorship and impunity is not entrenched.
8. Recognize the political reality of occupation and support the principle that the Iranian occupying power must withdraw from Kurdistan, Baluchistan, Al-Ahwaz, and other occupied homelands.

9. call upon the United States, Israel, and their allies in Europe and around the world to take decisive action: alongside military strikes against the regime’s repression positions and bases, to undertake a humanitarian military intervention deemed necessary to stabilize democracy and protect civilians from mass violence.
10. In light of reports from the ground that some cities in Rojhelat Kurdistan have, to some extent, fallen into the hands of the people and been partially liberated, it is urgently necessary to establish a no-fly zone over Eastern Kurdistan and across Iran, in order to prevent the regime from using air power to bombard these areas — a threat that is real and must be addressed before it becomes a catastrophe.

Conclusion

What is occurring today in the geography referred to as Iran is a crisis that — through widespread human rights violations, organized repression, mass arrests, and communications shutdowns — has direct implications for regional peace and stability. In Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhelat), this trend has reached a stage that must be called collective punishment and silent collective violence; a pattern built on communications blackout and the isolation of cities.

Silence and inaction at this point will rightly be interpreted by perpetrators of repression as a green light. We emphasize that the people of these regions — including Kurdistan, Baluchistan, and Al-Ahwaz — must not be left alone and voiceless in the darkness of communications shutdowns and repression. We reiterate: our demand is the withdrawal of the Iranian occupier from our lands.

If needed, we are prepared to provide supplementary documents, testimonies, lists of recorded cases (by city/day), and necessary cooperation to the media and relevant institutions.

Respectfully,
Kurdistan Independence Movement
12/01/2026