This article first appeared on our partner site, Independent Persian
While the fate of many detainees arrested during the nationwide protests in January – which many consider to have been a “national uprising” – remains unclear, reports received by Independent Persian indicate that a new wave of arrests has begun across various cities in Iran. Informed sources say that since the start of US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic on 28 February, the scale of arrests has expanded, with thousands detained on security-related charges.
Ahmadreza Radan, the Islamic Republic’s police chief, announced last Sunday that 500 people had been arrested on charges of “sending information to the enemy and anti-Iranian media”. He described the detainees as “spies” and claimed that half of the cases were “serious”. Without presenting any concrete evidence, Radan added that those arrested had “provided intelligence on targeting sites, maintained contact with subversive groups, and attempted to disrupt public order”.
The Ministry of Intelligence also announced on Monday the arrest and prosecution of 39 more individuals on the pretext of “recording images of the aftermath of airstrikes and sending them to Persian-language media outlets abroad”.
At the same time, state media reported the arrest of hundreds more across different cities, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) in the western province of Lorestan said it had detained individuals accused of “disturbing public opinion and sending images to hostile media”.
Political and human rights activists in Iran say that these arrests represent a continuation of the crackdown that began after the widespread protests in January, one of the harshest in the history of the Islamic Republic, and which reportedly resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
One case detailed in documents sent to Independent Persian concerns Amirali Moradi Zaviyeh-Kord, a 43-year-old man arrested at his workplace on 10 January. After 19 days of interrogation in Evin Prison, he was transferred to Greater Tehran Prison. According to reports, Judge Iman Afshari rejected his request for release on bail because of a tattoo on his hand bearing the name “Nika Shakarami”. Nika was a 16-year-old girl killed during the 2022 protests and whose name became a symbol of resistance. Moradi is reportedly suffering from severe skin allergies in prison and has been denied adequate medical care.
More recently, Ameneh Ghasemzadeh and her 15-year-old son, Ariyo Moshrefi, were arrested in March in Nazarabad, Alborz province. According to relatives, the reason for their arrest was ‘expressing happiness’ over the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. No information has been released about their whereabouts or condition, raising serious concerns about their safety.
In a separate case, Omolbanin Dehghan, Roozbeh Alipour, and Maryam Alipour were arrested while returning from a prison visit to their family member Babak Alipour, a political prisoner who had been sentenced to death. More than a month after their detention, no information has been released about their location or the charges against them.
Reports indicate that a significant number of those arrested are students and teachers. Among them is Dasta Farrokhi, a drama student at Soureh University of Art, who was arrested on 9 March at her family home in the northwestern city of Arak. No details have been disclosed about her whereabouts or the charges against her.
Ali Ebrahimi, an archaeology student at the University of Tehran, was arrested in late January and is said to have been wounded by gunfire during his arrest. Ali Khanpour, a biomedical engineering student at Amirkabir University, was detained after a verbal altercation with checkpoint forces in Karaj and has remained in detention for more than two months.
Meanwhile, Vahid Ghasemi, a teacher in the central city of Fariman, was arrested on 21 February at his school and transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. The following day, his mother, Mahnaz Haddad Kakhaki, was also arrested when she went to the courthouse to enquire about her son.
Hundreds of teenagers are also among those detained. Seventeen-year-old Mohammadreza Deyanti was arrested at his family home in Isfahan. Fouad Nikpey, also 17, was arrested in Marivan. Shayan Hadian, a teenage swimming and boxing athlete, was detained in Isfahan. Another 17-year-old, Mohammad Saeed Ghasemi, was arrested after security forces raided his home.
In some cases, reports have emerged of torture and coercion to obtain forced confessions. Shahram Sadeghi, arrested during protests in Karaj, is reportedly under pressure to deliver a televised confession.
