Iran Protests: Scores of Civil Society Members Detained “Preventatively”

 Grave Concerns for Torture, Killings of Political Prisoners Amid Mass Arrests 

October 6, 2022 – Less than three weeks after protests erupted across Iran, at least 1,200 people have been arrested, including at least 92 members of civil society who were not arrested at street protests, but instead arbitrarily detained at their homes or workplaces after Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i ordered “preventative detentions” on September 22, 2022, according to a list compiled by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“Iran’s prisons were already filled with political prisoners, and now the prisons and detention centers are swelled with protesters as the authorities move to crush the societal outcry over the government’s repression and brutality,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“We are deeply concerned about the potential for gross human rights violations, including torture and killings, which we saw during the protests of 2019 and 2009,” he added.

“World leaders and UN officials must urgently call for the release of political prisoners in Iran, and the immediate cessation of arbitrary arrests and state violence against protesters, students and members of civil society,” said Ghaemi.

CHRI notes that the 1,200 arrests since September 16, 2022, is an estimate by the government in Iran and that the actual number is likely much higher. CHRI has also counted at least 116 university students who’ve been arrested at protests in recent days, which are identified here.

According to the list of names compiled by CHRI based on its sources on the ground and media reports, at least 92 civil society members have been arrested in Iran since September 16, when the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in state custody sparked nationwide protests.

“This isn’t a crackdown, it’s an attempt to obliterate civil society,” said Ghaemi. “Iran’s government keeps revealing that it’s terrified of its own people.”

CHRI’s list includes:

• At least 29 journalists and reporters, many of them women, including Vida Rabbani (Tehran), Niloufar Mohammadi (Tehran), and Mehrnoush Tafian (Ahwaz)
• At least 20 human rights activists, including women activists Bahareh Hedayat (Tehran), Neda Naji (Tehran), and Fatemeh Sepehri (Mashhad)
• At least 19 teachers’ rights and labor rights’ activists, including Jafar Valadkhan (Bijaar), and Mohammad Aref Jahangiri (in Talesh)
• At least 17 writers, artists, and filmmakers, including Mahnaz Mohammadi (filmmaker in Tehran) Mona Bourzoie (poet in Tehran), and Mansoureh Mosavi (writer in Mashhad)
• At least 4 defense attorneys, including Babak Paknia (Tehran)
• At least 3 athletes, including female former national row team member Toktam Akhundzadeh, Former Persepolis Tehran soccer player Hamidreza Aliasgari, and current Persepolis Tehran soccer player Hossein Mahini

Following is CHRI’s list of names of civil society members arbitrarily detained between September 16, 2022, and October 5, including the date of arrest and location.

Journalists and Reporters

• Masoud Kordpour, September 20th, Saqqez
• Khosrow Kordpour, September 20th, Saqqez
• Fatemeh Rajabi, September 20th, Tehran
• Yalda Mayyeri, September 20th, Tehran
• Miloufar Hamedi, journalist who first published Mahsa Amini’s hospital photo, September 21st, Tehran
• Iman Behpasand, September 22nd, Tehran
• Batool Balali, September 22nd, Sirjan, central Iran (released on October 1st)
• Samira Alinejad, September 22nd, Sirjan, central Iran
• Rouhollah Nakhaei, September 23rd, Tehran
• Marziyeh Talaei September 20th, Saqqez
• Mohsen Ravari, September 23rd, Jiroft, southeast Iran
• Mohsen Ahmadizadeh, September 23rd, Jiroft
• Vida Rabbai, September 24th, Tehran
• Alireza Khoshbakht, September 24th, Tehran
• Ahmad Halabisaz, September 24th, Tehran
• Alireza Jabbari, September 24th, Tehran
• Navid Jamshidi, September 24th, Tehran
• Mojtaba Rahimi, September 24th, Qazvin, northern Iran
• Farshid Ghorbanpour, September 25th, Tehran
• Jabbar Dastbaz, September 25th, Divandareh, western Iran
• Aria Jafari, journalist, September 25th, Isfahan, central Iran
• Mehrnoush Tafian, September 28th, Ahvaz, southeast Iran
• Amirhossein Barimani, September 28th, Tehran
• Elahe Mohammadi, September 29th, Tehran
• Siavash Soleimani, October 1st, Oroumiyeh, northwest Iran
• Safieh Gharehbaghi, October 1st, Zanjan, western Iran
• Saman Ghazali, October 1st, Mahabad, northwest Iran
• Alborz Nezami, October 2nd, Tehran
• Ali Salem, October 4th, Tehran

Human Rights Activists

• Leila Mirghaffari, September 16th, Tehran
• Faranak Rafiei, September 18th, Sanandaj, western Iran
• Ribvar Kamranipour, September 19th, Marivan, western Iran
• Amjad Saedi, September 19th, Marivan
• Mahrizan Ahmadi, September 20th, Sanandaj
• Baran Saedi, arrested between September 17-21st, Sanandaj
• Mahrou Hedayati, arrested between September 17-21st, Sanandaj
• Azadeh Jama’ati, arrested between September 17-21st, Sanandaj
• Bahar Zangiband, arrested between September 17-21st, Sanandaj
• Siroos Abbasi September 22nd, Dehgolan, western Iran
• Azad Abbasi, September 22nd, Dehgolan, western Iran
• Fatemeh Sepehri, former prisoner of conscience, September 22nd, Mashhad, northeast Iran
• Majid Tavakoli, former prisoner of conscience, September 23rd, Tehran
• Hossein Ronaghi, former prisoner of conscience, September 25th, Tehran
• Bahareh Hedayat, October 3rd, Tehran
• Hossein Masoumi, October 3rd, Tehran
• Hossein Sarbandi, October 3rd, Tehran
• Saeid Shirzad, October 3rd, Tehran
• Ali Shirzad , October 3rd, Tehran
• Neda Naji, labor activist, October 2nd, Tehran

Teachers/Labor Rights Activists

• Leila Abbasi, teachers’ rights activist, September 21st, Bijar, western Iran
• Jafar Valadkhan, teachers’ rights activist, September 21st, Bijar, western Iran
• Ms. Ghelichkhani, teachers’ rights activist, September 21st, Bijar, western Iran
• Mohammad Reza Nosrati, teachers’ rights activist, September 21st, Bijar, western Iran
• Melika Kavand, teachers’ activist, September 21st, Bijar, western Iran
• Mozaffar Salehnia, Free Workers Union of Iran board member, September 21st, Sanandaj
• Shadi Aslani, teacher, September 21st, Sanandaj
• Reza Sharifeh, retired teacher, September 21st, Sanandaj
• Mohammad Karam Zamani, teachers’ rights activist, September 27th, Bijar
• Davoud Razavi, bus trade union official, September 27th, Tehran
• Kamran Sakhtemangar, labor activist, September 29th, Saqqez, western Iran
• Mohammad Aref Jahangiri, retired teachers’, October 1st, Sanandaj
• Shahram Azmoudeh, teachers’ rights activist/journalist, October 2nd, Talesh, northern Iran
• Mohammad Saeid Boueshagh, teachers’ rights activist, October 2nd, Lordegan, southern Iran
• Hesam Mehdizadeh, teachers’ rights activist, September 29th, Kamyaran, western Iran
• Edris Mehdizadeh, teachers’ rights activist, September 29th, Kamyaran, western Iran
• Farzin Movafaghi, teachers’ rights activist, September 29th, Kamyaran, western Iran
• Khabas Mozaffari, teachers’ rights activist, September 29th, Kamyaran, western Iran
• Bahram Yaghobi, teachers’ rights activist, Tabriz, October 3rd

Writers, Poets, Researchers

• Mansoureh Mousavi, author/women’s rights activist, September 20th, Mashhad
• Karamollah Soleimani, author/theater director, September 21st, Gachsaran, southwest Iran
• Mojgan Kavousi, former prisoner of conscience/research, September 23rd, Nowshahr, northern Iran
• Banafsheh Kamali, poet, September 24th, Yazd, central Iran
• Mona Borzouie, poet/songwriter, September 28th, Tehran
• Morvarid Ayaz, sociologist, September 30th, Rasht
• Zahra Savarian, poet, October 3rd, Abadan
• Atefeh Chaharmahalian, poet, former board member of the Iranian Writers Association, October 3rd, (city unknown)

Filmmakers/Artists

• Golshin Mohammadian, filmmaker/rights activist, between September 17th-21st, Sanandaj
• Farhad Sanandaji, filmmaker/rights activist, September 21st, Sanandaj
• Mahnaz Mohammadi, filmmaker/women’s rights activist, September 19th, Tehran
• Amir Gholami, filmmaker/rights activist, September 21st, Sanandaj
• Mohammad Siamaknia, documentary filmmaker/rights activist, September 24th, Tabriz
• Sara Saniei, sculptor, September 25th, Tehran
• Peyman Mirzazadeh, singer/former prisoner of conscience, September 26th, Tehran
• Shervin Hajipour, singer, September 30th, Tehran (Released on bail on October 4th)
• Sepideh Salarvand, filmmaker, Tehran, October 2nd

Lawyers

• Mahsa Gholamalizadeh
• Saeid Jalilian
• Milad Panahipour
• Babak Paknia

Athletes

• Hossein Mahini, former national football team member, September 29th, Tehran (released on October 4th)
• Hamidreza Aliasgari, former player for Persepolis football club, October 2nd, Tehran
• Toktam Akhundzadeh, female former national row team member, September 30, Tehran

*This article was revised on October 6, 2022, to note the arrest of Marziyeh Talaei.