Human Rights Campaign: Arrest of Several Civil and Political Activists and a Journalist

The International Human Rights Campaign in Iran announced on Monday, March 9, that Majid Asadi, a former political prisoner, has been arrested again. According to the report, on March 3, Majid Asadi was arrested by agents at his home in Karaj and transferred to Evin Prison. Majid Asadi is a former student activist at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran and was first arrested on July 4, 2008, by the Ministry of Intelligence and was released after about three months on bail. In March, he was sentenced to four years in prison for 'collusion and conspiracy against national security' and was released on June 7, 2015, after serving his sentence. Meanwhile, the International Human Rights Campaign reported that Tahereh Riahi, a journalist and editor at the Borna News Agency, had a 'brief phone call of a few seconds with her family' nearly two weeks ago from Evin Prison, and since then, there has been no information available about her. According to this report, Tahereh Riahi was arrested on December 27, 2016, at the Borna News Agency office, and at the time of her arrest, she was charged with 'propaganda against the regime.' The report adds that during the phone conversation, Tahereh Riahi cried and said, 'Do not wait for me anymore.' Previously, there were reports of eye injuries sustained by Tahereh Riahi in prison. Additionally, her 'promise of release' upon posting a bail of 300 million tomans has not yet been fulfilled. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Farzaneh Jalali, a deprived student and women's rights activist from Kermanshah, was arrested on Thursday, March 5, after a phone call to the 'Registration Office' and is currently held in the Oil Square detention center belonging to the Kermanshah Intelligence Department. According to the International Human Rights Campaign, Farzaneh Jalali is a graduate of anthropology from the University of Tehran and a former member of the Islamic Association of Tehran University. She was deprived of education in 2010 and was among those advocating for the situation of the burned girls in the Shinabad school.