Two young female athletes from Saqqez in Kurdistan province were arrested by the Islamic Republic's security agents one day apart and taken to an unknown location. Rojan Ebrahimi, 20, a mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete, was arrested on Saturday, 3 October 2026, and Aida Ghaderi, 20, a swimming coach, was arrested on Sunday, 4 October.
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, in both cases Intelligence Ministry agents raided the family homes of the two women without presenting a judicial warrant and took them away. Voice of America, citing the Hengaw human rights organisation, also reported that the families have been given no information about the reason for the arrests, the charges or where the women are being held.
Families left in the dark
According to human rights sources, the families of Aida Ghaderi and Rojan Ebrahimi have not been able to visit or contact them since their arrest, and it is unclear whether they have access to a lawyer. Islamic Republic officials have so far not commented on the arrests.
In response to the arrests, the US State Department, according to Voice of America, condemned the move and said the Islamic Republic treats women as second-class citizens and is trying to silence their voices.
Two 20-year-old female athletes from Saqqez have been arrested without a judicial warrant, and their families do not know where they are being held.
Pressure on Kurdish cities
Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, has been one of the centres of protest in Kurdistan in recent years, and civil activists and residents of the city have repeatedly been targeted by security arrests. In recent weeks, human rights organisations have reported a continuing wave of arrests of civil activists, teachers and women in Kurdish cities following the Dey uprising.
Arrest without a warrant and detention in an unknown location without access to a lawyer or family is a recurring pattern in how the Islamic Republic's security agencies treat detainees, and human rights groups have repeatedly warned of the risk of pressure to extract forced confessions under such conditions.
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