In a new wave of crackdown in Iran, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the IRGC Intelligence Organization have begun arresting and summoning large numbers of young activists, especially the families and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Many have been sent to prisons, and some have been temporarily released on bail while signing a form pledging not to participate in any anti-regime activities.
According to the statement of the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on May 24, “MOIS, IRGC or their plainclothes agents raid people’s homes or offices and beat up those detained. They also confiscated the victims’ phones, computers, and many of their personal belongings and valuable items.”
The NCRI statement said the arrests have been made in Tehran, Mashhad, Neyshabur, Kermanshah, Sabzevar, Arak, Kashan, Mahshahr, Bushehr, Marvdasht, Amol, Ahvaz, Andimeshk, Rasht, Behbahan, Isfahan, Gorgan, Karaj, Tabriz, and Shiraz.
Those arrested have been subject to several hours of interrogation, accompanied by torture and physical and mental pressure.
According to those who have survived the arrests, the detentions and interrogations focused on obtaining information about the PMOI/MEK and their Resistance Units, the relationship between the detainees and the PMOI/MEK, and why and how young people are attracted to PMOI/MEK.
In Mashhad, interrogators set up a mock execution scene to break the resistance of a group of ten young detainees to force them to confess and/or discover their possible connection to the PMOI/MEK.
In Tehran, the torturers and interrogators, harass and insult the arrested young women and girls to break them, and force them into making false televised confessions.
The intelligence services have also called and sent messages to the youth to intimidate them against supporting the PMOI/MEK and collaborating with them.
The PMOI has recently announced the names of 18 detainees as follows:
Mohammad Reza Ashrafi Samani, Isfahan
Nahid Fat’halian, Tehran
Kamran Rezaeifar, Tehran
Sepehr Imam Jomeh, Tehran
Parastoo Mo’ini, Tehran
Zahra Safaei, Tehran
Bijan Kazemi, Kuhdasht
Forough Taghipour, Tehran
Marzieh Farsi, Tehran
Massoud Rad, Tehran
Mohammad Mehri, Qom
Somayeh Bidi, Karaj
Mohammad Hassani, Karaj
Rasool Hassanvand, Khorramabad
Gholam Ali Alipour, Amol
Mehran Gharabaghi, Behbahan
Majid Khademi, Behbahan
Saeed Rad, Semnan
Iran Human Rights Monitor calls on the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, the Special rapporteur on violence against women, and other human rights organizations to pressure the Tehran regime to allow an international delegation to visit Iranian prisons and meet with political prisoners, and those recently arrested.
