Reports of the Arrest of a Teenager from Tabriz on Charges of 'Insulting' Khamenei and Khomeini

On Sunday, December 4, the legal advisory group Dadban reported that Negar Dabbaghi, a 17-year-old from Tabriz, has been detained for nearly two weeks based on various security-related charges and is being held in Tabriz Central Prison. According to Dadban, she was arrested on November 23 of this year on charges of 'encouraging people to commit crimes against internal and external security, insulting Islamic sanctities, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and insulting the founder and leader of the Islamic Republic' by Branch 10 of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Tabriz. Dadban added that the issuance of the arrest warrant and detention of this teenage girl is based on 'forced confessions obtained from her by the authorities and the contents of her mobile phone.' This legal advisory group emphasized that preliminary investigations regarding this teenage girl's case should have been conducted in a juvenile court and that relying on the confessions of a 17-year-old without the presence of her lawyer during interrogation is illegal. Pressure on civil and political activists, especially women in Iran, has significantly increased in recent years, particularly following the nationwide protests after the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police in 2022.