Simultaneous Arrest of at Least Five Civil Activists in Various Cities of Iran

According to reports, on Thursday, February 1, at least five civil activists were arrested in the cities of Tehran, Behbahan, and Kermanshah. The reason for the simultaneous arrests of these civil activists in different cities of Iran is unclear. The Human Rights Campaign in Iran and several websites reported that Behnam Mousivand, a civil activist, was arrested on Thursday at his father's home in Tehran. The website HRANA also stated that security agents arrested Mr. Mousivand 'violently.' Behnam Mousivand had been released from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, May 31, after serving about a year in prison. Additionally, according to reports from several websites, Saeed Iqbal, a civil activist in Kermanshah, has been arrested. Daryoush Zend and his wife, Shima Babaei, two civil activists, were also arrested while traveling from Tehran to Behbahan to visit Mr. Zend's family. Masih Ali-Najad, a journalist residing in the United States, wrote on her Instagram page that 'intelligence agents, posing as postmen, visited Daryoush Zend's father's house and inquired about him. After the door was opened, the intelligence agents stormed into the house and arrested Daryoush Zend and his wife, Shima Babaei.' Daryoush Zend was arrested during protests in January in Tehran and was released on bail after nine days. Shima Babaei was also arrested on May 25, 2016, and released after a week on a 100 million toman bail. Babaei's charges included 'propaganda against the regime,' 'gathering and collusion,' 'spreading falsehoods in cyberspace,' 'insulting the leadership,' 'insulting officials,' and 'contacts with foreigners and media outside the country.' According to Ms. Ali-Najad, these two civil activists, who had traveled from Tehran to Behbahan to visit Daryoush Zend's family, were arrested on Thursday while on Saturday, January 27, Branch 1090 of the Tehran Guidance Court held a session to review Babaei's charges without sending her a summons. Mahmoud Masoumi, another detainee on Thursday, had previously been arrested on May 12, 2016, during a gathering of supporters of Mohammad Ali Taheri and was released after a month on a 200 million toman bail. Following that, several websites reported that Mr. Masoumi had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. The HRANA website also reported that Leila Faraji, a civil activist, was released after several hours of detention and interrogation on Thursday. After the January protests, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrested several student activists, labor activists, and civil activists in various cities of Iran. According to reports, most of the detainees have been released, but several of them remain imprisoned.