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

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.

https://iranhumanrights.org/2022/10/iran-protests-scores-of-civil-society-members-detained-preventatively/