UPDATES: Iran Regime — Without Compulsory Hijab, Islamic Republic Would Collapse


UPDATE 1155 GMT:

Local sources say Iranian security forces have roughed up and arrested seven labor activists in Sanandaj in northwest Iran, a center of eight-month nationwide protests.

The activists were seized on Wednesday evening when officers raided the family home of a 21-year-old protester killed by Iranian security forces in December.

The men — Kamal Karimi, Shadman Abdi, Abdullah Khairabadi, Sirvan Mahmoudi, Iqbal Pishkari, Khabat Mahmoudi, and Habibullah Karimi — were beaten and taken to an unknown location.

The agents did not produce any document setting out the charges.

Khairabadi and Pishkari have previously been summoned, detained, and interrogated by the Sanandaj Intelligence Department.


UPDATE 0838 GMT:

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on Iran’s regime to “stop terrorizing the country’s journalists” and to release imprisoned reporters.

The organization noted that authorities have resumed “heavy-handed arrests”.

RSF cited the case of Alieh Motalebzadeh, a freelance photojournalist and women’s rights activist, whose home was raided by seven police officers on May 10. She was ordered to present herself for interrogation at the prosecutor’s office in Tehran’s Evin Prison on May 16.

Motalebzadeh was targeted over her participation in an online conference of journalists and academics on April 21, “Dialogue to Save Iran”.

Keyvan Samimi, 73, the former editor of the monthly Iran Farda, was arrested on the eve of the discussion. Accused of contacting “a deviant sect abroad”, he was held incommunicado for almost three weeks and transferred to Evin Prison on May 10.

Sajjad Shahrabi, a journalist with State broadcaster IRIB, was arrested on May 3 and taken to Evin prison after a raid on his father’s home.

Their cases are added to those of scores of journalists, including some serving lengthy prison sentences. Among them are Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who broke the story of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody on September 16.

Many of the detained reporters, including Hamedi and Mohammadi, are women.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Al-Zahra University in Tehran is threatening the suspension of hundreds of students over compulsory hijab for women.

Since the start of the Iranian New Year on March 21, at least 35 students have been suspended for one to two semesters and lost dormitory access until the end of their degrees.

The Voice of Al-Zahra Students group said that up to 600 candidates have been summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee.

“An unprecedented new chapter of case-making, harassment of students, and issuing severe sentences has begun,” the group summarized.

Sepideh Rashno, a poet arrested last year for refusing to wear hijab, posted on Instagram that she has been banned from studying for two semesters for “not observing the Islamic dress code”.

Amid eight-month nationwide protests — sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody after her detention for “inappropriate attire” — university students across Iran have refused to attend classes and rallies with chants such as “Woman, Life, Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator”. Some students have removed and burnt their hijab.

The activist news agency HRANA says at least 700 university students have been arrested.