Following the brutal crackdown on the November uprising and the widespread arrests of protesters, the Islamic Republic has turned to civil activists and increased pressure on them. Similar was the case that happened after the Green Movement in 2010 and the rise of the poor in December 2017.
But if during the Green Movement, mainly reformist activists, media outlets and reporters in the country’s official newspapers were pressured and many were arrested, after the rise of November this year, especially cultural and civil activists, labor activists, the families of those killed in November 2019 and the artists who were wanted or arrested. The pressure continued after the crash of a Ukrainian plane and the deaths of passengers and crew and even intensified even after students protested government lies about the causes of the plane crash, but due to heavy news censorship, less information was reflected and available about the arrests.
In recent days, however, news of the pressure on civil and independent activists has been gaining more media attention. Pressure on civil and union activists has intensified since the November uprising, according to independent media. Heavy court’s rulings and lengthy prisons, issuance of enforcement orders, summonses, and increasingly threatening regular telephone calls are among the signs of intensifying repressive atmosphere, which will be pointed to a few examples.
- Asal Mohammadi, a labor activist and a member of the editorial staff of Gam magazine, who was arrested twice during the crackdown on the Haft-e-Tappe labor movement and was released on heavy bail, Among these independent activists is a five-year jail sentence that has been upheld and must go to jail and if convicted she should go to prison to serve this sentence.
- Also according to the report of the Campaign to Defend Political Prisoners and civil, on Thursday, 9th January 2020, Mr. Nasser Fahimi, a Kurdish political prisoner who has been serving a ten-year sentence since 2011, was transferred to Greater Tehran Prison on the orders of Evin prison officials. Other examples of pressure from prison officials on this political prisoner have been a ban on visiting his family and not delivering their medicine.
- Youssef Singleh, an 18-year-old student in 12th class from Khosh Abadgo village who was active on social media and criticized the country’s political situation, was arrested on the 9th of January 2020 by security forces in his private home. At the time of the detention, six “plainclothes” people took out all the family members, and after a thorough search of the house, they arrested him with Bracelets and fasteners and only told his family that he was taken to the Kenarak Intelligence Office.
- Following the announcement of the boycott of the Fajr Film Festival by some artists, Ms. Taraneh Alidousti was summoned to the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office on charges of “propaganda against the system“. Ms. Zainab Harmang, the education secretary in the district of region 18 of Tehran, was also arrested at her home on Sunday afternoon at 6 pm on 12th Sunday, January and officers seized some of her personal belongings while searching the house.
- On Monday 6th January 2020, Four Iranian citizens were arrested on charges of “insulting Qasem Soleimani” in the city of Shahreza in Isfahan province, according to Sina news agency dependent on the Islamic Republic. The four were arrested on charges of “insulting Qassim Suleimani,” the news agency quoted Shahr Reza’s prosecutor general as saying.
- On Wednesday, 15th of January, 2020, Mr. Moslem Soleimani, a Master student in mechanical engineering at Kurdistan University, Mr. Arshad Atabak, a Master student in Arabic literature at Kurdistan University and Mr. Zanyar Ahmadpour, a bachelor student in Economics at Kurdistan University, participated in a memorial service to honor killed Ukrainian aircraft aboard. They were arrested after the beatings by security forces and taken to an unknown location.
- In the past days, “Mr. Babak Hosseini Moghadam”, an Azerbaijan national activist from Tabriz, was arrested by agents and repressive forces of the Ministry of Intelligence. There is no information on the whereabouts of him at the moment of reporting the news.
- The Azerbaijani Human Rights Association “Ark” also reported: “The Soldoz (Naghadeh) Intelligence Bureau has called on some Azerbaijan national activist to not leave the city and will be treated seriously if seen.”
23rd of January 2020
