Security forces in Iran have arrested more than 1,500 people since the beginning of the war, carrying out often violent raids against ordinary citizens, activists, students, religious minorities and the families of protesters and activists living abroad, a leading human rights organisation has said.
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran said the number of arrests was based on Iranian government figures, and the real total is probably “far higher”. Many detentions go unreported, and more occur each day, the group added.
“The Iranian authorities are exploiting the cover of war to launch a sweeping campaign of repression,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the CHRI, wrote in a report. “These arrests are not about security – they are about silencing dissent, punishing critics and instilling fear across society.”
Among the reasons given by the regime for recent arrests are owning Starlink equipment, sharing content with foreign media, filming the sites of strikes, espionage, gathering information for foreign governments and attempting to disrupt public security, the CHRI said.
Some Iranians have been accused of accessing the internet using Starlink devices, which are banned in the country, amid state-imposed internet disruption that has been in place since the start of the war.
The CHRI called on the international community to demand an end to arbitrary arrests and the immediate release of detainees and political prisoners in any negotiations with the Iranian regime.
“The CHRI calls on governments worldwide and all relevant UN bodies to urgently and directly address the violent and unlawful crackdown under way in Iran,” it said.
Among those arrested were rapper Hossein Afrasiab, who was detained in the central Iranian city of Shahin Shahr on March 13, and Iranian-Austrian dual citizen Abbas Danesh. University student Dasta Farrokhi, 20, was arrested at her home in the south-western city of Arak on March 8.
“With the vast numbers now detained in Iran, many of whom are held in undisclosed locations, the risk of torture, deaths in state custody, coerced confessions, sham convictions and death sentences remains alarmingly high,” the CHRI said.
Amnesty International on Tuesday said seven men, including political dissidents and protesters, were at “imminent risk” of execution.
Fears for their safety have grown after the execution of four other Iranians – Akbar Daneshvarkar, Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi, Babak Alipour and Pouya Ghobadi – who were put to death in secret on March 30 and 31.
The day before their deaths, Mr Alipour and Mr Ghobadi's lawyer, Babak Paknia, wrote on social media that he had not been notified of any verdict and was “not even aware” of the results of his clients' trials.
“The minimum right of a convicted person is to be able to benefit from the right to appeal and to have the execution of the sentence suspended,” Mr Paknia added.
The four were sentenced to death after what Amnesty described as “grossly unfair proceedings before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran in October 2024”. They were convicted of “armed rebellion against the state” on allegations of being linked to the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran.
They repeatedly denied all accusations of taking up arms against the state, Amnesty said.
The crackdown comes after tens of thousands of people were detained during nationwide anti-government protests in January. The largest civil unrest movement in Iran’s modern history was subjected to repression by the regime's security forces, resulting in the deaths of at least 7,000 people, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists’ News Agency. Some media reports put the death toll several times higher.
Three people arrested during those demonstrations have already been executed since the war began. Saleh Mohammadi, 19, Saeed Davoudi, 21, and Mehdi Ghasemi were publicly hanged in the city of Qom on March 19 after being convicted of “waging war against God”.
The executions followed what the CHRI called grossly unfair trials without any semblance of due process, based on forced confessions obtained under torture.
Human rights groups have warned that Iran’s large prison population is at greater risk than usual due to the conflict. Detainees have been moved to unidentified military sites, where they may be in danger from US and Israeli air strikes, while prison food and water supplies have declined.
Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi was refused medical treatment last week after suffering what appeared to be a heart attack in Zanjan Prison, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said.
“On 24 March, Mohammadi was found unconscious in her bed, with her eyes rolled back,” the foundation said. She was allowed medicine to restore consciousness, but “authorities refused to transfer Mohammadi to a hospital or allow her to visit a specialist”.
Ms Mohammadi has spent more than 10 years in prison. She was most recently arrested in December last year for making “provocative remarks” at a memorial ceremony, Iranian authorities said at the time.
She was handed a seven-and-a-half year sentence by an Iranian court in February.
