Abdol Fazl Ghadiani, Political Activist Opposed to Khamenei, Arrested

Abdol Fazl Ghadiani's son announced that his father has been arrested. Ahmad Ghadiani wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, October 1, that 'they stormed my father's house and took him away.' He described his father's arrest as 'a sign of resorting to the same old methods' and added, 'They want to bring down the club that they received from a foreign government on the heads of domestic critics to display an authority that has collapsed.' It seems his reference is to the blows that the Israeli army has dealt to Hezbollah in recent days, during which Hassan Nasrallah, the group's secretary-general, was killed. Hezbollah is considered one of the main proxy groups of the Islamic Republic and is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. In the final part of his post, Ahmad Ghadiani referred to the leaders of the Islamic Republic, stating that 'they do not learn from the past and will go to the bottom of the valley.' Abdol Fazl Ghadiani is a staunch critic of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, having repeatedly attacked his positions and actions in recent years. This 78-year-old political activist, who suffers from heart disease, was sentenced to 10 months in prison last year by the Revolutionary Court. This sentence was issued after he supported the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests and called Ali Khamenei 'the greatest enemy of the Iranian people' and a complete example of 'mofsed fil-arz and mohareb' on January 25, 2023, stating, 'Rest assured this government will fall.' Mr. Ghadiani is a founding member of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization and is considered close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, having become one of Khamenei's fiercest critics especially after the protests of 2009, and he has previously been arrested and imprisoned several times.