Police Commander Denies Gathering in Dehdasht; Fars Reports Arrest of Gathering 'Leader'

The police commander of Kohgiluyeh denied the occurrence of a gathering in Dehdasht, while Fars News Agency reported the arrest of the 'leader of the Dehdasht gatherings' and several others by the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC. Meanwhile, human rights media have published the identities of several other citizens arrested in Dehdasht. On Sunday, February 17, Fars published a video stating that the IRGC Intelligence Organization of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad arrested 'disturbers of order and security' who had gathered on February 12. Fars claimed these individuals 'intended to carry out sabotage operations' and referred to one of the detainees as the 'main leader of the gatherings.' Officials and media of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly attributed protests in various regions of Iran to 'foreigners' and accused them of 'attempting sabotage.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Mousavi, the police commander of Kohgiluyeh County, stated that the occurrence of 'unrest and illegal gatherings' in Dehdasht is not true, and the images and videos circulated are 'related to previous years and other parts of the country.' According to Tasnim News Agency, this police official told reporters on Saturday night that the city of Dehdasht and its surroundings are 'in the best security conditions.' On the other hand, human rights media, including HRANA and Hengaw, noted that after the February 12 gathering, the security atmosphere and the arrest of citizens in Dehdasht continued, reporting the identities of some of the detainees. Hengaw published the names of nine detainees, while HRANA mentioned three others in addition to them. The identities of these twelve individuals are reported as Atifeh Tahernia, Amirhossein Jafari (17 years old), Kamran Bozari (16 years old), Jaber Foroughi, Pouria Barati, Hossein Parisai, Alireza Parisai, Hamid Parisai, Ahmad Nourmohammadi, Shahram Nooraniyan, Shahryar Hashemi Nasab, and Reza Yeganeh. Previously, some human rights sources and several social media users reported that citizens of Dehdasht gathered on the night of February 12 in protest against economic and social issues, chanting anti-government slogans.