Two Activists Arrested in Malakan

HRANA News Agency – On December 19, 2016, Mehdi Kukhian and Karim Chaichian, two civilians from Malakan were arrested by security forces and taken to an unknown location. The officers searched their house and also seized their personal electronics and communication belongings.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on December 19, 2016, two Turkish (Azeri) activists, Mehdi Kokhian and Karim Chaichian were arrested at their houses by security forces and taken to an unknown location. The officers searched their houses and also seized their laptops, cell phones and computers.

The civilians were arrested while they had been summoned to the headquarters of the Police on Monday, December 5.

According to their families, they were arrested following the subpoena and complaint by the mayor and representative of Malakan city about their news channel.

“The city news of Malakan” telegram channel which was sued and whose original administrator is Mr. Kukhian.

Mehdi Kukhian had been previously arrested several times due to his activities and has been in prison several times.

“The city news of Malakan” telegram channel which has nearly 13,000 members, had been the most watched news channel in Malakan and published news related to Malakan for more than a year.

Salman Khodadadi, is the original complainant in this case, the city’s representative who had been in the Iranian parliament for five years.

He was former security commander in the Revolutionary Guards and director of Ardabil province’s intelligence ministry at Ahmadinejad’s presidency.

Malakan (Malek Kandi -Malikan) with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants is located in the southwest of East Azarbaijan province.