Arrest of Peyman Aref, Political Activist, by Turkish Security Forces

The wife of Peyman Aref, a political activist living as a refugee in Turkey, announced his arrest by Turkish security forces through posts on her Facebook page. This was broadcast live early Saturday, December 20, indicating that the Turkish police's anti-terrorism unit had arrested Mr. Aref. Before his arrest, Mr. Aref had a brief conversation with Radio Farda, stating: "It is currently a quarter to one at night in Ankara. A number of Turkish security police from the anti-terror unit have come to arrest me. I am asking them for a search warrant, which they are not providing, and they are threatening to break down the door and enter the house." Peyman Aref and Samira Jamshidi emphasized in their posts that this arrest was due to their revelations regarding a recent meeting in Istanbul about the reasons for Iranian refugees fleeing abroad, which included several Iranian political activists. Mr. Aref previously claimed on Facebook that the organizers of this meeting were linked to Turkey's intelligence agency, known as MIT, and alleged that they aimed to "spy on Iranian governmental and political centers" and "infiltrate the Iranian opposition." Mr. Aref claims that his disclosures about the behind-the-scenes of this meeting led many invitees to withdraw from attending. Samira Jamshidi's latest post on her Facebook page states that in contact with the Turkish security police, they confirmed Mr. Aref's arrest and said that his lawyer could visit the detention center. Peyman Aref was one of the so-called star-marked students during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, expelled from university due to his political activities. He was arrested during the events of 2009 and spent about a year and a half in prison, and at the end of his sentence, he was subjected to flogging.