Iran's Interior Ministry: Suspect in Isfahan Acid Attacks Arrested

Hosseini Zolfaqari, the Deputy for Security and Law Enforcement at Iran's Interior Ministry, has announced the arrest of 'an individual against whom there were the most reasons and evidence' in connection with last year's acid attacks in Isfahan. This report was published on Thursday, October 15, by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) and has been reflected in Tehran's newspapers on the following Saturday. According to Zolfaqari, 'this suspect is largely close to the main accused and has also been identified by the victims of the incident.' The Deputy Minister stated, 'The previous records of this individual, particularly in the field of theft and buying and selling motorcycles, strengthen the possibility that the arrested individual is the main suspect in the case.' Zolfaqari mentioned that approximately 191,000 individuals have been investigated in relation to the Isfahan acid attacks. The news of acid attacks on several women and girls in Isfahan last November significantly impacted the social atmosphere of the city and Iran as a whole. Since then, various motives have been proposed, including 'promotion of virtue and prevention of vice' or 'combating improper hijab,' as potential motives for the individual or individuals behind the acid attacks; however, neither the motives nor the perpetrators have been officially announced so far. Now, the Deputy for Security and Law Enforcement has stated that 'all evidence and indications with objective documentation' regarding the arrested individual have been submitted to Iran's judiciary for further investigation. In response to the question of whether the Isfahan acid attacks were organized, Hossein Entezami stated, 'A final judgment cannot be made, but the evidence obtained indicates that all these acid attacks were carried out by one person, and therefore, organization is not confirmed.'