Rouhani's Advisor Links Recent Arrests of Political Activists to 2017 Presidential Elections

Following the publication of analyses suggesting that the recent arrests of political and civil activists in Iran were aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2017 presidential elections, the advisor to the President also connected the arrests of several Telegram channel managers to the elections. Hessameddin Ashna, advisor to Hassan Rouhani, accused the country's security agencies in several tweets titled 'A Simple Plan of a Deceptive Operation,' claiming that they set up a Telegram channel themselves and then arrested individuals on charges of being connected to that channel. He also linked the arrests of managers of several reformist and pro-government news channels to the 2017 presidential elections. Ashna wrote: 'We create a channel and gather all the debris. When the time comes, we will deal with all of them... We will also arrest anyone else we have issues with under the pretext of potential connections to that channel. Now that the city is quiet and deserted, no one is around to follow up. Sir, the elections are settled.' According to reports, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested 12 managers of Telegram channels close to reformists and government supporters in recent days, subsequently changing the names of the channels and making them inaccessible to their managers. Among these channels are Reform News, Supporters of Rouhani, Reformist Assembly, Long Live Reforms, Reformist Students, and Supporters of Khatami in Yazd. Previously, some political activists and analysts had also linked these arrests to the presidential and council elections in 2017. For instance, Mostafa Tajzadeh, a reformist political activist, tweeted in response to these arrests that 'using radio and television and suppressing rival media is one of the principles of engineering elections.' Meanwhile, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that some of these individuals have been released, but Ali Heydar Valizadeh, manager of the 'Reformist Assembly' channel, and Ali Ahmadnia, manager of the 'Reform News' channel, remain in custody. Ali Motahari, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, warned the Minister of Intelligence on Wednesday regarding the arrests of these individuals and the re-imprisonment of Ehsan Mazandarani, former editor-in-chief of the Farhikhtegan newspaper, threatening him with impeachment. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a Tehran representative in Parliament, also criticized Hassan Rouhani and Sadegh Larijani, heads of the executive and judicial branches, for their 'silence,' 'indifference,' and 'lack of accountability' regarding 'violations of citizens' rights.' Mohammad Ali Vakili, another Tehran representative, also wrote on Twitter that 'if there is no accountability regarding the arrested news channel managers, I will summon the Minister of Justice to Parliament.' On the other hand, on Wednesday, March 25, Morad Taghafi, editor-in-chief of the Goftogu magazine, was arrested at his home. Ehsan Mazandarani, who had recently been released from prison, was re-arrested on Sunday when IRGC intelligence agents stormed his home. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran's prosecutor, stated that the reason for Mazandarani's arrest was the continuation and full execution of his sentence. However, Mazandarani's lawyer and family claim that he was released after completing his sentence. Mazandarani has informed his family in a brief phone call that he has been on a dry hunger strike since Tuesday in protest against his 'illegal, political, and arbitrary' detention. On March 19, four days before Ehsan Mazandarani's arrest, Hengameh Shahidi, a journalist and political activist, was arrested in Mashhad and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran. On social media, including Shahidi's Twitter account, a handwritten note of her last writing before her arrest was published, indicating that she had received 'warnings from some media and individuals close to the government' regarding the possibility of her arrest. She stated that there was no reason for her arrest unless there was a 'project' for 'widespread arrests of political activists and journalists' before the presidential elections. Meanwhile, Nahid Kermanshahi, Hengameh Shahidi's mother, reported that she is in Ward 209 of Evin Prison and has gone on a hunger strike and medication strike.