A Report on the Violation of the Freedom of Speech of Iranian Journalists, Authors, and Artists through the Current Protests
The following list is assembled by some authors and media activists within and without Iran and consists of the names of those authors, literary figures, journalists, artists, musicians, cinema figures who were either illegally persecuted, threatened, summoned for persecution, or arrested and tortured during the ongoing protests in Iran. We demand the immediate and vast broadcast of this list, verified case by case, to be published in order to raise global public awareness of the profound depths of suppression exerted in Iran on daily basis so much so that this definitely incomplete list represents over 90 cases of severe violation of human rights and freedom of speech only within the last 55 days. At the end, not only do we find it necessary to remind that this list surely falls far from exhaustive regarding the journalists, artists, and authors arrested or persecuted or threatened, but also it is important to remember that the total arrest toll is so high, especially when ordinary protestors arrested are concerned, that the entire list can be but the tip of the ice-burg.
1. Niloofar Hamedi (photographer and journalist of Shargh Newspaper) arrested on September 22nd and Elaheh Muhammadi (Ham’Mihan Newspaper journalist) arrested on September 23rd / both journalists were arrested by the security forces over their legal journalist work over the truth about the death of Mahsa Amini, and recently, in an unprecedented event, two major intelligence organizations of the regime condemned the two female journalists detained to be an agent of the foreign countries and accused them of treason which anticipates the highest degree of punishment and is a matter global concern for freedom of speech
2. Said Helichi (the Iranian Arab poet and translator) / arrested by security forces in Ahwaz
3. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (documentary film-maker) / sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment along with financial fine and other supplementary sentences
4. Aziz Veisi (The famous folklore Kurdish singer) / arrested for publishing an open letter declaring withdrawal from state-sponsored musical events.
5. Siyavash Khadim Husseini (drama and cinema actor) / arrested by intelligence forces, location of custody unknown
6. Milad Fadayi Asl and his spouse, Saba She’r’Doost (both journalists) / arrested by intelligence forces, custody location unknown)
7. Yalda Moayerri (journalist-photographer) / arrested since the second day of the protests and has been under pressure since
8. Mandana, Sadeghi (The Abadanian journalist) / arrested violently along with her husband, a petrochemical manager, and under pressure for accepting serious security-framed accusations 19th of October, she has been previously pressured by the intelligence forces for revealing the corrupted parties involved in the tragic collapse of Metropol Collapse in that area
9. Nazanin Keynezhad (translator) / arrested by security forces and moved to notorious Evin Prison ward 209, there is no update of the accusatory content
10. Amir Abbas Azarmvand (journalist and labor activist) / arrested and moved to an unknown center violently among with some other political prisoners arrested in October
11. Arash Ganji (author, translator, and member of Iranian Authors Association, already doing his 5 year long prison sentence in Evin when the prison was set on fire and there are worries about lack of information about his situation afterwards)
12. Nik Yousefi (film-maker, editor, and photographer) / arrested by the security forces since 16 October for making a video art work about the current protests and his center of detention is unknown
13. Hussein Ismaili (photographer) / arrested
14. Ellaheh Bayramiyan / theatre actress (arrested violently and with physical assault in Urmia)
15. Alireza Izadi (author and theatre director) / arrested
16. Amir’Hussein Rahimi (theatre actor) / arrested
17. Behnam Heidari (drama MA student) / arrested and transferred to Evin on October 1st
18. Alireza Amou’Zadeh, Amir’Ali Rahmati, Ali Yazdali, Mehdi Husseini, Keyvan Husseini, Pooriya Ranjbar, Muhammad Sajedi (all active in drama) / arrested
19. Danial Safdari (Art student in Tehran) / arrested on October 9
20. Mahdokht Rahmani Pak (drama student) / arrested on October 2nd
21. Abed Tavancheh (journalist and activist from Arak) / arrested in Rasht in recent events along with his wife, Laleh Muhammadi
22. Varan Muhammad Nejhad (art student) / arrested in Sanandaj, a member of the cultural association of Noozhin, on October 13, she has gone on hunger strike in protest to her illegal abduction by IRCG
23. Hamid Jafari Nasr’Abadi (football coach and author) / arrested
24. Toomaj Noorayi (author and cinematographer) / arrested on arrival to Iran on October 9
25. Pariya Rahimi (working in a book center) / arrested in Varamin, Gharchak
26. Muhammad Sh’bani (poet and political refuge) / he was announced to have committed suicide on October 10, and passed away at hospital in Turkey, Manisa after days of being in coma, then his body was transferred to Iran and buried under severe security surveillance and presence in Shiraz, suggesting him being assassinated by the regime as he has been previously threatened so
27. Yalda Agha’Fazli (a 19 year old artist) / she was allegedly and suspiciously both declared to have committed suicide and overdosed on November 11, two days after her release from prison where she was taken to for ten days during the current protests
28. Hamid Yahooiyan (a book-store in Bojnoord) / arrested on October 26, his detention center is unknown
29. Saideh Fathi (sport journalist) / arrested on October 16 in Tehran
30. Ehsan Pirbornash (sport journalist and satirist, and the former chief editor of Bank-eh Varzesh Website / arrested on October 28 and formerly had been threatened by IRGP
31. Toomaj Salehi (nationally renowned rapper and political activist) / kidnapped on October 30, he has been tortured and forced into televised confessions against himself
32. Marziyeh Amiri (economic journalist) / arrested on October 31, her detention center is unknown
33. Arash Ramezani (author and book club owner in Mashhad) / arrested on October 23rd
34. Amir’Hussein Atash (poet and literature student) / arrested in Mashhad, his detention center is unknown
35. Faezeh Ayin (graphic-designer) / arrested
36. Hussein Shanbeh’Zadeh (editor and Tweeter activist) / summoned to do the three year and half sentence of “insult to the sacred” on June 30, he was in Evin prison at the time of the tragic Evin incident
37. Atefeh Chaharmahaliyan (poet, a member of the board of committee of Iran’s Writers Association, and social activist) / arrested on October 3rd and transferred to Evin prison, her bail request has been rejected and she has been reported to be under pressure for forced confessions, causing considerable worries about her well-being, Pen has also internationally condemned her arrest officially
38. Nasibeh Nami’Far (poet) / arrested on September 19 in Gachsaran and was transferred to Yasooj Prison where she has been under torure and pressure while the judicial medical report has denied it; since her parents are old and ill, there has been no one to pursue her official affairs so far
39. Muhammad Taravat’Rooy (lawyer and poet) / arrested by security forces on November 2nd (he has also been the lawyer of Muhammad Shabani whose tragic and suspicious death is reported in the present list)
40. Farnaz Jafar’Zadegan and Iraj Zebar’Dast (the poets and spouses) / they have been frequently prosecuted and threatened and their house violently searched by the security forces, in addition, Ghaleh’Golab (author) / he was previously imprisoned over Metropol collapse protests in Abadan and set free on bail, but in the beginning of the current protests, he has reported his house being sabotaged in his absence by security forces and his personal belongings illegally confiscated, while Soroosh Mozaffar Moghaddam, Muhammad Gonabadi, and Mazaher Shahmat, three Iranian authors, have received cyber-threats by the security forces to stop having an active social media presence
41. Amir’Hussein Barimani (author and theatre critic) / arrested and transferred to the notorious Fashafooyeh prison, he has been denied from having his own lawyer and been forced to make confession against himself and eventually on November 13, along with many other political prisoners put on trial after forced confessions in Fashafooyeh Prison, was sentenced to the five years of discretionary punishment prison-time
42. Kaveh and Yashar Dar’al Shafa (social activist and author brothers) / previously doing their sentence in the course of their multiple decade-long arrests and imprisonments in Evin but were transferred to the notorious Rajayi’Shahr Prison, the same applies to Reza Khandan Mahabadi (Iran Writers’ Association member and author) who were doing sentence for his activities over freedom of Speech upon Evin incident when he was transferred to the same prison, Keyvan Mohtadi, Khosrow Sadeghi Boroujeni, and Nazanin Muhammad’Nejhad (both translators, academicians and social activists) and Keyvan Bajhan (a member of Iran Writers’ Association) who were previously imprisoned when Evin incident happened and there were worries about their well-being after such a brutal state-driven suppression in the prison
43. Arash Sadeghi (media and social activist) / a former political prison arrested again in the current protests on he suffers from multiple severe conditions caused by his former hunger strikes in protest against illegal persecutions and mistreatment of the political prisoners around October 12, in addition to suffering from bone tumor and thus serious concerns about his life are expressed
44. Hussein Rownaghi (political activist and media figure) / he is a former political prisoner tortured with lasting physical complications and has been recently violently arrested upon his referring to the public prosecutor’s office, and tortured, he has been on hunger strike for 50 days and a number other political prisons including the globally acclaimed film-maker, Jafar Panahi, has recently published an open letter expressing severe concern for his life
45. Zhina Modarress Gorji (women’s right activist and librarian) / arrested in Sanandaj
46. Rizan Ahmadi (poet, translator, and women’s right activist) / arrested in Sanandaj on September 20 at her work center
47. Banafsheh Kamali (editor and literature student at Yazd Uni.) / arrested on September 21 and has not been allowed to visit her lawyer
48. Farshid Ghorbanpoor (literary journalist and chief editor) / arrested on September 25 in Tehran
49. Mansoureh Mousavi (author and women studies researcher) / arrested on September 22 in Mashhad, her center of detention is unknown
50. Karam’allah Soleimani (author, playwright, and stage director) / arrested in Gachsaran
51. Mojhgan Kavousi (author, translator, and researcher) / formerly doing sentence, despite her heart disease and other severe conditions, her release request has been denied
52. Muhammad Khani (sociology PhD student) / he was shot with shotgun in the October 15 incident in Evin and according to his lawyer, despite his critical conditions, the necessary medical treatment had been denied to him
53. Mahvash Sabet (Bahai rights activist and poet) / arrested in current events and moved to the notorious Evin ward 209
54. Arghavan Vosoogh Ansari (poet) / violently arrested in front of her children, and the security forces have denied providing her with the necessary medications required for her severe physical condition
55. Nazila Ma’roufiyan (Roydad Website journalist) / arrested on October 30
56. Yaghma Fakhshayi (journalist) / arrested after being summoned to the ministry of intelligence and transferred to the notorious Evin ward 209
57. Hessam Hassan’Abadi (film-maker and cinema photographer) and Faramarz Ramezaniyan (film-maker) were arrested together on November 3rd, their detention center is unknown
58. Sahra Rezayi (the Afghan journalism student residing in Iran) / arrested since October 18 at Allameh Uni. and as of yet no intelligence organization has neither admitted her arrest nor given any answer to her family
59. Kamyar Fakoor and Sarvenaz Ahmadi (artist and social activist spouses) / arrested together at their own house by the security forces on November 6
60. Sahand Aghajani (an artist based in Sanandaj) / arrested on November 3rd
61. Amir Chamani (social activist and journalist) / arrested by security forces in Tabriz on November 6
62. Shiva Shabani (cinematographer) and her husband, Farshad Parsa, arrested in Early November and were sent, respectively, to Gharchak Varamin and Fashafooyeh notorious prisons
63. Muhammad Ali Kashi and Egrin Shir’Beigi (two hip-hop artists based in Ekbatan, a main protest vicinity in current events in Tehran) / arrested by the security forces on November 9 and transferred to an unknown detention center
64. Mohsen Zehtabi (author) / arrested in Shiraz for over 50 days and his lawyer, Mahmud Taravat’Rooy is arrested too
65. Farinaz Sarraf (stage director, and theater instructor) / arrested on September 26 and taken into an unknown detention center
66. Navid Jamshidi (journalist and AsiaNews Website chief editor) / arrested on September 24 in Tehran
67. Somayyeh Mesroo (Ilna News Agency journalist) / arrested on October 8 in Isfahan
68. Siyavash Soleimani (a respected time-honored journalist) / arrested on October 1st in Urmia
69. Nasrin Hassani (local journalist) / arrested on September 30 in Bojnoord
70. Ariya Jafari (Isna News Agency photographer) / arrested on September 25 in Isfahan
71. Mehrnoosh Tafiyan (local journalist) / arrested on September 28 in Ahwaz
72. Malihe Darki (News Photographer) / arrested on October 26 in Abadan protests
73. Vida Rabbani (freelance journalist) / arrested on September 24 in Tehran
74. Saman Ghazali (freelance journalist and environmentalist) / arrested on September 23rd at his own place in Mahabad
75. Mojtaba Rahimi (freelance journalist) / arrested on September 22nd at his own place in Ghazvin
76. Alireza Khoshbakht and Rooh’allah Nakahi (both freelance journalists) / arrested on September 23rd in Tehran
77. Masood Karam’Poor (the owner of Mookriyan News Agency) / arrested on September 20 in Bookan
78. Alireza Jabbari Darestani (social journalist at Mehr News Agency) / arrested on September 25 in Tehran
79. Iman Behpasand (freelance journalist) / arrested on September 22nd in Tehran
80. Mahmud Mirzayi (orchestra leader and singer) / arrested violently at his hosue on October 4 and is reported to suffer from severe physical conditions including an unattended broken rib
81. Dana Sheibani (rock-climber, snowboarding coach, and graphic-designer from Shiraz) / arrested on November 10 by being tracked down via an online taxi app, and taken to the detention center of Shiraz Intelligence Bureau
