Arrest of Reza Mohammadi, Political Activist, Following Call for IRGC to be Designated as Terrorist

News sources report that Reza Mohammadi, a constitutionalist political activist in Iran, was arrested on the morning of Monday, April 30. He had recently emphasized the necessity of designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. Arasham Rezaei, a former political prisoner, tweeted that on Monday afternoon, seven security forces from the IRGC Intelligence Organization raided the home of Mohammadi's father and arrested this former political prisoner with violence. According to Rezaei, the IRGC security forces confiscated all of Mr. Mohammadi's identification documents along with the mobile phones of all family members and threatened the family not to speak to any media. Arash Sadeghi, a human rights activist who shared a cell with Mohammadi for two years in Rajai Shahr prison, also described him as a 'symbol of courage and honesty' who 'never engaged in prison factionalism and defended the rights of every prisoner regardless of their views.' He stated that Mohammadi 'was sent to solitary confinement multiple times but did not surrender.' On April 26, Mohammadi stated in a video message from in front of the IRGC's Tharallah headquarters that 'the IRGC should be placed on the terrorist list due to widespread repression, kidnapping, and naked violence against Iranians and crimes against humanity.' Mohammadi, who was released from prison in January 2023, had previously issued a joint Nowruz message with ten other constitutionalist activists, stating that the 'current dire situation' of Iranians is the result of 'thoughts, methods, and goals' that emerged from the 1979 revolution and the deviation of constitutionalism, 'in the battle between constitutionalists and those in favor of absolute rule.'