Hoshyar Shabani, a civil activist and former political prisoner from Baneh, was temporarily released from Saqqez Central Prison on Monday, July 13, 2026, after spending more than six months in detention and being transferred between the prisons of Sanandaj and Saqqez. His release was granted upon the posting of 3.5 billion tomans in bail.
According to information received by Kolbarnews, Hoshyar Shabani, a civil activist from Baneh, was temporarily released from Saqqez Central Prison on Monday, July 13, 2026, after six months and three days in detention, upon posting bail of 3.5 billion tomans.
Upon his release, he was welcomed outside the prison by a group of friends, relatives, and several justice-seeking families, including the mother of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, one of those killed during the “Jina” revolutionary uprising.
Hoshyar Shabani was arrested on Friday, January 9, 2026, when security forces raided his home in Baneh without presenting a judicial warrant and transferred him to an undisclosed location. After spending several days in security detention facilities, he was transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison and, in recent weeks, was moved to Saqqez Central Prison.
According to information received, the case file against the civil activist had been destroyed following the attack on the Baneh Intelligence Department.
As a result, security forces summoned him again in recent weeks for renewed interrogations and attempted to build a new case against him. During his detention, the security authorities repeatedly opposed his temporary release on bail, but ultimately agreed to release him after the interrogations had concluded.
Over the years, Hoshyar Shabani has repeatedly been subjected to arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment because of his civil and political activities, and has remained under continuous pressure and surveillance by the security authorities.
According to documented records, on August 20, 2025, he was shot in the leg by Intelligence Department forces during his arrest. He subsequently spent 53 days in security detention facilities and Baneh Prison without access to a lawyer or family visits. Despite suffering from a gunshot wound, he was denied adequate medical treatment and was eventually released temporarily on bail on October 11, 2025.
In 2023, security forces also raided his home and opened a judicial case against him. In November 2023, he was summoned on charges of “propaganda against the state.” On December 14, 2023, security forces searched his family home and pressured and threatened his relatives to force them to reveal his whereabouts and surrender him to the authorities.
Hoshyar Shabani had previously been arrested without a judicial warrant on August 26, 2021, and spent 81 days under interrogation at the Baneh Intelligence Department detention centre. According to informed sources, he suffered stomach bleeding as a result of torture during this period. While being transferred to hospital under heavy security measures, he was denied family visits and access to a lawyer. He was released on bail on November 14, 2021, and was later sentenced by the Revolutionary Court to one year of discretionary imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the state,” with part of the sentence suspended. Nevertheless, on February 7, 2023, he was arrested again to serve the sentence and transferred to Baneh Prison.
The civil activist was also arrested and imprisoned several times between 2017 and 2019 because of his civil activities, including supporting kolbars and participating in the merchants’ strike. The latest arrest during that period occurred on October 14, 2019, when he was detained by intelligence forces and was subjected to enforced disappearance for a period, with his family receiving no information about his whereabouts or fate.
