Exclusive: Nazila Maroufian Beaten; 'Plainclothes Agents' Attempted to Arrest Her

Nazila Maroufian, a journalist who was imprisoned for a period due to an interview with the father of Mahsa Amini, was beaten by a group of plainclothes agents on Tuesday evening, June 30, in the courtyard of Tehran's City Theater. A close associate of Nazila Maroufian, who requested anonymity, told the Persian section of Voice of America that the plainclothes agents, who were numerous and included two women, beat her and dragged her on the ground. According to him, the attackers insulted Ms. Maroufian, and a man filmed the entire incident while she was being beaten. Based on this report, Nazila Maroufian was freed from the grasp of the plainclothes agents, who intended to take her away, with the help of several friends and some bystanders. He noted that Ms. Maroufian's body suffered severe bruising and contusions from the attack by the plainclothes agents. On Wednesday, Nazila Maroufian confirmed the news of her beating in a tweet. This journalist had previously shared her account of an encounter with a special forces officer and the sexual insults she faced regarding her optional dress code. Nazila Maroufian tweeted on Sunday that an officer at the City Theater told her due to her lack of mandatory hijab: 'What kind of appearance is this, of course, because |...| you dress like this.' [Voice of America omitted the sexual insults.] According to Ms. Maroufian, this officer then filmed her. After that, she published images of 'threats and fabricated cases' against her in tweets, stating: 'Do whatever you want. I still stand by my beliefs.' Nazila Maroufian also tweeted that security pressures on her have increased solely because she is a 'protesting critic.' According to Ms. Maroufian, all of this is 'to crush a person or bring them to the brink of suicide, or to force them to flee the country. I am certainly human and I am being tormented, but as long as I am alive, I will write and remain in my country, no matter how much you alienate me.' Nazila Maroufian was arrested after publishing an interview with the father of Mahsa Amini in early November 2022 and was released on bail after about 70 days in prison. Mahsa Amini died in custody of the morality police last September, leading to widespread protests in various cities across Iran. The pressure on lawyers, civil activists, and journalists is among the actions taken by the Islamic Republic authorities following the protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death. Dozens of journalists have been arrested in recent months in Iran, some of whom, including Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, remain in prison. Concerns regarding the situation of Tomaj Salehi, Armita Abbasi, and Nazila Maroufian on social media. The Islamic Republic's efforts to criminalize information dissemination; journalism is not a crime. The International Federation of Journalists to the Islamic Republic: Do not suppress media under the pretext of protests.