Latest news with #IranCrackdown
Telegraph
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Iranian forces target Baha'i religious minority in post-ceasefire crackdown
Iranian authorities have begun a sweeping crackdown on members of the Baha'i religious minority. Since the June 24 ceasefire between Israel and Iran, dozens of Baha'i homes have been targeted in co-ordinated raids carried out by armed intelligence agents, often in the early hours of the morning. Families in cities across the Islamic Republic have reported masked officers entering their bedrooms, seizing electronic devices, religious texts and personal belongings. In some cases, parents and children have been detained and taken to undisclosed locations. Religious materials – including prayer books and writings of the Baha'i faith – are being treated as contraband. The crackdown is so intense that many community members are afraid to speak out about the arrests, fearing their loved ones who are held in prison could face harsher treatment, and even execution. Shia Islam is Iran's official religion. The constitution recognises some minority faiths like Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, but not the Baha'i faith, a relatively new religion that was founded in 19th-century Persia, which is now Iran. Despite having no political organisation or ties to foreign powers, its members are frequently accused of espionage or propaganda activities against the regime. Since the ceasefire began, authorities have arrested more than 700 people on espionage accusations with at least six already executed by hanging. But for the Baha'i community, this is more than just a crackdown – it is the latest step in a 46-year effort to eradicate them. For Alhan Taefi, whose 62-year-old mother, Fariba Kamalabadi, is among Iran's most prominent Baha'i prisoners, the escalation has brought fresh anguish as she watches her mother's deteriorating condition and a wave of arrests sweeping through her community. 'I honestly cannot imagine how she's going to survive seven more years in these conditions,' Ms Taefi told The Telegraph from Manchester. 'I'm sure that if they want to keep her there, there's absolutely no possibility that she'll survive until the end of seven years and come out alive.' When Israeli missiles struck Evin prison during last month's war, she lost contact with her mother for 48 hours and did not know if she was alive or dead. 'We were completely cut off from them for nearly two days,' Ms Taefi said. 'When she finally managed to call, we learnt they had been transferred to Qarchak prison the day after the missile attack.' Sixty prisoners, most of whom are elderly, are crammed into a space a quarter of the size of their previous cell. Her mother now shares a 12-square-metre room with seven other women, surrounded by triple-bunk beds so low the prisoners cannot sit upright. Ms Taefi explained: 'She told me they have one tiny table and two chairs for eight people. 'They have to take turns – two at a time – to sit and eat their meals, then go back to their beds so the next two can eat. There's literally no room for everyone to stand at once. 'The conditions for prisoners in Qarchak prison are so bad that on the first day my mother called us from Qarchak prison, she said, 'I wish we had died when that missile hit and didn't have to live in these conditions.'' The average age of the women imprisoned in Qarchak, a former livestock facility that has been converted into a detention centre 40 miles south of the Iranian capital, is 57. Many suffer from back pain, neck problems and other ailments that make lying flat for 20 hours a day pure torture. Ms Taefi said: 'My mother is 62. She told me she can't even climb to the upper bunks because she's afraid of falling. 'So she spends most of the day lying down, which is causing terrible physical problems. I asked my mother today, 'How do you eat?' because the beds they have are triple bunk, and the height isn't very tall, so they can't even sit in them. They have to lie flat.' Across Iran, the raids have followed the same pattern. In central Baharestan agents ransacked 15 homes, arresting Navid Tashakkor. In Shiraz, Arman Nikaein and Iman Rahmat Panah were detained. In Northern Qaemshahr, Raquel Ataeian was arrested. In northern Joybar, armed forces raided a couple's bedroom while they slept. Computer specialist Golriz Nourani, 39, endured her second raid since 2022. Six intelligence agents stormed Farideh Jaberi's home at 6pm, confiscating everything from laptops to family photographs. 'This is the first time I've heard of arrests like this,' one community member told The Telegraph. 'They never came into bedrooms before. It shows no respect for privacy.' Crackdown is 'assault on Iranian society' When asked why Iranian authorities often increase pressure on the Baha'i during times of international distraction, the community member said it has always been this way. 'I think there's always been pressure on the Baha'i community, but it seems like whenever there's a bigger news story, they use that as cover,' he said. 'I think they calculate that when the world's attention is elsewhere, they can act with less scrutiny.' They believe authorities know the Baha'i community poses no security threat despite decades of espionage accusations. 'I'm sure that it's impossible for them not to know, after all these years, that the Baha'i community is completely innocent and has done nothing illegal,' he added. 'I think it's because the Baha'i community is very peaceful and doesn't resort to violence. Maybe they feel comfortable that they can pressure these people because Baha'is respond with forbearance and patience.' Ms Kamalabadi has been arrested four times. She spent 10 years in prison before 2017 and was arrested again in 2022. Mohammad Javad Akbarin, an Iranian religious scholar, said: 'What the Islamic Republic is doing today to our Baha'i fellow citizens is not merely a human rights violation against the Baha'is – it is an assault on Iranian society itself, on its diversity and pluralism.' As the crackdown intensifies, families like Ms Taefi's face a hard choice: speak out and risk worsening the situation for their loved ones, or stay silent and watch the destruction continue. 'I don't want to say something wrong,' Ms Taefi said. 'But the conditions are terrible for these people. We are asking for my mother and others to be released on bail, or with ankle monitors, or in any way possible – even temporarily – until conditions improve.'
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside Iran: Behnaz Mahjoubi arrested without cause as executions and paranoia grip Iran
Crackdowns are in force throughout Iran, with Revolutionary Guards on an all-out hunt for dissidents A wave of arrests is in full force in Iran, with the Islamic Republic arresting hundreds of people suspected of spying for Israel. On Saturday, the sister of a prominent protester who died in an Iranian prison was arrested in the southeastern province of Kerman. According to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a nonprofit promoting the rights of Iran's Kurdish community, plainclothes agents detained Behnaz Mahjoubi at her workplace in Kerman without presenting her an arrest warrant. Behnaz Mahjoubi's brother, Behnam Mahjoubi, was arrested in 2018 and died in prison in 2021. His arrest followed a government crackdown that year on protesters from the Gonabadi Dervishes, a Sufi minority. Five protesters were reportedly killed during the demonstrations, scores were injured, and hundreds were arrested. Iranian sources told The Media Line that Behnaz spoke publicly about her brother's plight following his death, although she hasn't spoken out recently. According to Iman Forouton, chair of the anti-regime New Iran organization and the SOS Iran activist network, the Islamic Republic has become paranoid in the wake of the war and is rounding up anyone related to those who protested in the past, particularly those whose family members were killed by the state. Former Iranian political prisoner Shabnam Madadzadeh shared a video on social media of Behnaz's mother, Batoul Hosseini, speaking out about her daughter's abduction. 'Behnaz suffers from a heart condition. The Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC will be held fully responsible for anything that happens to her,' Hosseini said. Forouton told The Media Line that members of theBaháʼí faith, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority, are also being arrested. The Islamic Republic judiciary signed off on the execution of three Iranian men this week, convicting them of espionage on behalf of Mossad's intelligence agency. According to the Iranian Students' New Agency (ISNA), which is affiliated with the Islamic Republic, the men were convicted of espionage on behalf of Israel. Hundreds of others were arrested during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Dissidents, opposition leaders, journalists, writers are all being detained, as the country is grappling with an unprecedented threat to the regime's grip on power. According to Iran International, a Washington-based news network critical of the regime, a journalist was arrested last week over his war coverage. In the days since Israeli bombs stopped falling on Iran, state security guards have emerged from hiding. A massive crackdown is in force, with checkpoints popping up throughout the country. One of the activists involved in Forouton's SOS Iran resistance network told The Media Line that guards in Iran have set up checkpoints every kilometer or two to check cars and buses. Citing leaked intelligence documents, The Times reported last week that the Mossad had been present in Iran since 2010, familiarizing themselves with the nuclear program and infiltrating sites including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters and the Sanjarian nuclear site. The accomplishments achieved by Israel earlier this week—taking out key regime officials and nuclear scientists and severely damaging nuclear program infrastructure—may have taken place over 12 days, but they resulted from a decade and a half of boots on the ground. The chief of the Mossad said last week that the intelligence service will continue to operate in Iran. "We will be there, just as we have been there until now," Mossad chief David Barnea said. On Thursday, the Mossad's Farsi-language social media posted a message to the Iranian people: 'A ceasefire has been implemented. Now, the extent of the damage is becoming clear.' The post noted that the Mossad had established a team of Farsi-speaking doctors who were available to support civilians. The next day, the page added another post: 'Dear Iranian citizens, you know that we will do our utmost to ensure no harm comes to you. Our fight is with the oppressive Islamic Republic regime.' It warned civilians to stay away from the members of the Revolutionary Guards, security personnel, bases, and regime vehicles and to avoid answering unknown calls or texts. Internet access in Iran has been reinstated after being cut off during the war. The SOS Iran activist who spoke to The Media Line said that the Islamic Regime has been indiscriminately sending texts to everyone with warnings to the public and threats that they are being watched. On June 25, Iran's judiciary together with the Intelligence Ministry announced changes to its espionage law, as was previously reported by The Media Line. A new committee was formed to monitor civilians' online activity. He said that the Morality Police have resumed stopping the public and checking civilians' phones. One acquaintance in Iran told the activist to stop texting him and that he was going to change his SIM card. Directives have also reportedly been given to the public to weed out the Mossad agents or accomplices. Iranians have been told to report on neighbors whose houses are regularly visited by strange men, who have large piles of garbage outside their homes, who mostly keep their curtains closed. This is a developing story.
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A new wave of repression': fears for Iran's political prisoners after Israel war
Life for Reza Khandan has only got worse since Tehran's Evin prison, where he was an inmate, was hit by an Israeli airstrike on 23 June. The next night, the 60-year-old human rights activist – who was arrested in 2024 for his support of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement – was moved to another jail in the south of the capital, where he has told family conditions are hard to endure. 'My father and others do not have beds and are forced to sleep on the floor. He once found six or seven bedbugs in his blanket when he woke up,' said his daughter Mehraveh Khandan, who described 'horrific' sanitary conditions in the prison. Families of political prisoners in Iran say conditions have worsened since the end of the 12-day war and that they fear vulnerable detainees will bear the brunt of what activists say is a broader crackdown by the Iranian authorities, whose legitimacy was shaken by Israel's campaign. The fighting began on 13 June with a barrage of hundreds of Israeli airstrikes that Israel said were aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones. The air war brought in the US and continued until both sides agreed a ceasefire. An unknown number of prisoners were moved by the Iranian authorities to other detention facilities in the aftermath of Israel's strike on Evin, which killed 71 people, including some in the jail and others in its vicinity. The whereabouts of many is unknown but those who have been in contact with relatives have said their new jails are even worse than Evin, which was notorious for the torture of political detainees. Mehraveh, who is based in Amsterdam, said: 'The only cooking water available to prisoners was salty until Sunday. [And] in recent days we have witnessed the disappearance of several prisoners who were already facing the death penalty or long sentences.' Many families have not heard from their loved ones, as long queues have formed for the few phones in detention facilities. Asso Azizi, whose sister Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish aid worker, is on death row, said he had not heard from her in two days. She and other women were transferred to Qarchak prison, which is described as overcrowded and unsanitary. 'Unfortunately, they were not even able to take their personal and sanitary items with them,' Asso said. Besides the unsanitary conditions, Asso is terrified that the authorities may expedite his sister's death sentence, which she was handed in July 2024 'solely in relation to her peaceful humanitarian and human rights activities', according to Amnesty International. The Iranian authorities charged her with armed rebellion against the state. 'There is a concern that just as the process of dealing with her case was very hasty and fast, confirming this sentence in only three days, that now they will execute this sentence to create terror among the people,' Asso said. As conditions worsen in prison, activists and residents of Tehran have also described a wave of repression as the country reels from the war. Security forces have set up checkpoints across the country, stopping pedestrians and checking their mobile phones, sometimes detaining people based on their online activity. The security crackdown comes as the Iranian authorities grapple with the extensive Israeli intelligence penetration of its forces and a wave of online criticism. According to Iranian state media, 700 people have been arrested on charges of collaborating with Israel during the 12-day war. The New-York based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has said hundreds more were arrested in Tehran and six people were executed on espionage charges. Iran's parliament is considering a bill that allows for broader use of the death penalty for those who are accused of collaborating with foreign powers, with judicial authorities specifically referencing espionage with Israel. Hadi Ghaemi, the CHRI's executive director, said: 'Iranian authorities are locking people up incommunicado without cause or access to a lawyer, and sending them to the gallows on 'national security' charges in order to terrorise the public and re-establish control.' The Iranian prison system is murky, particularly for political prisoners. The legal system is plagued with secret trials and allegations of torture. Tracking detainees through the labyrinthine Iranian security apparatus is often a challenge. For families of Iranian political prisoners, the days ahead will be filled with fear. Mehraveh said: 'It is clear that a new wave of intense repression has begun, more severe than ever before. We are deeply concerned.'
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A new wave of repression': fears for Iran's political prisoners after Israel war
Life for Reza Khandan has only got worse since Tehran's Evin prison, where he was an inmate, was hit by an Israeli airstrike on 23 June. The next night, the 60-year-old human rights activist – who was arrested in 2024 for his support of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement – was moved to another jail in the south of the capital, where he has told family conditions are hard to endure. 'My father and others do not have beds and are forced to sleep on the floor. He once found six or seven bedbugs in his blanket when he woke up,' said his daughter Mehraveh Khandan, who described 'horrific' sanitary conditions in the prison. Families of political prisoners in Iran say conditions have worsened since the end of the 12-day war and that they fear vulnerable detainees will bear the brunt of what activists say is a broader crackdown by the Iranian authorities, whose legitimacy was shaken by Israel's campaign. The fighting began on 13 June with a barrage of hundreds of Israeli airstrikes that Israel said were aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones. The air war brought in the US and continued until both sides agreed a ceasefire. An unknown number of prisoners were moved by the Iranian authorities to other detention facilities in the aftermath of Israel's strike on Evin, which killed 71 people, including some in the jail and others in its vicinity. The whereabouts of many is unknown but those who have been in contact with relatives have said their new jails are even worse than Evin, which was notorious for the torture of political detainees. Mehraveh, who is based in Amsterdam, said: 'The only cooking water available to prisoners was salty until Sunday. [And] in recent days we have witnessed the disappearance of several prisoners who were already facing the death penalty or long sentences.' Many families have not heard from their loved ones, as long queues have formed for the few phones in detention facilities. Asso Azizi, whose sister Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish aid worker, is on death row, said he had not heard from her in two days. She and other women were transferred to Qarchak prison, which is described as overcrowded and unsanitary. 'Unfortunately, they were not even able to take their personal and sanitary items with them,' Asso said. Besides the unsanitary conditions, Asso is terrified that the authorities may expedite his sister's death sentence, which she was handed in July 2024 'solely in relation to her peaceful humanitarian and human rights activities', according to Amnesty International. The Iranian authorities charged her with armed rebellion against the state. 'There is a concern that just as the process of dealing with her case was very hasty and fast, confirming this sentence in only three days, that now they will execute this sentence to create terror among the people,' Asso said. As conditions worsen in prison, activists and residents of Tehran have also described a wave of repression as the country reels from the war. Security forces have set up checkpoints across the country, stopping pedestrians and checking their mobile phones, sometimes detaining people based on their online activity. The security crackdown comes as the Iranian authorities grapple with the extensive Israeli intelligence penetration of its forces and a wave of online criticism. According to Iranian state media, 700 people have been arrested on charges of collaborating with Israel during the 12-day war. The New-York based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has said hundreds more were arrested in Tehran and six people were executed on espionage charges. Iran's parliament is considering a bill that allows for broader use of the death penalty for those who are accused of collaborating with foreign powers, with judicial authorities specifically referencing espionage with Israel. Hadi Ghaemi, the CHRI's executive director, said: 'Iranian authorities are locking people up incommunicado without cause or access to a lawyer, and sending them to the gallows on 'national security' charges in order to terrorise the public and re-establish control.' The Iranian prison system is murky, particularly for political prisoners. The legal system is plagued with secret trials and allegations of torture. Tracking detainees through the labyrinthine Iranian security apparatus is often a challenge. For families of Iranian political prisoners, the days ahead will be filled with fear. Mehraveh said: 'It is clear that a new wave of intense repression has begun, more severe than ever before. We are deeply concerned.'
