Arrest of 6 Virtual Activists in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province

On Saturday, September 9, the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province announced the arrest of 6 virtual activists, accusing them of 'planning for gatherings and inciting unrest in the coming days.' The Islamic Republic government refers to protest gatherings in Iran as 'unrest' and suppresses protesters under the label of 'rioters.' In a statement, the IRGC claimed, without mentioning the identities of the detainees, that they were 'seeking to provoke public opinion to create insecurity' across five social media pages. The security agency did not provide details about the nature of the detainees' online activities, only labeling them as 'active' in last year's nationwide protests and having a 'criminal record.' According to the IRGC's statement, the virtual pages of these 6 individuals were blocked by judicial order, and their operators were imprisoned. As the anniversary of the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police approaches, the Iranian government has intensified security pressures on a wide range of groups, including civil and political activists, journalists, lawyers, and also cultural, labor, student, and academic activists. Additionally, the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence previously claimed in a joint statement that they dealt a 'serious blow to the network organizing unrest.' These two security agencies accused the U.S. State Department, Freedom House, and the Nonviolence Institute for Democracy of organizing women for future protests without providing any evidence. The U.S. State Department had previously rejected similar accusations, stating that the Iranian government continues to promote false conspiracy theories and blame others for inciting protests instead of addressing the people's grievances. The U.S. urged Iranian officials to listen to the voices of the people instead of accusing others. The judicial crackdown on educators continues; a teachers' union activist in Arak was sentenced to prison and lashes. Exclusive: Rada Fatehi, sister of one of the victims of the protests, stated that the arrests are a 'sign of the Islamic Republic's impotence.'