More than 50,000 people arrested in protests in Iran

JAKARTA - Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of a crackdown on protests, an NGO said on Tuesday, adding that new arrests were still taking place.

Human rights groups have accused Iranian security forces of killing thousands of people in a crackdown on protests that peaked on January 8 and 9 and have since subsided.

However, police have also arrested large numbers of people from all walks of life across the country, with state leaders blaming the unrest on foreign-backed "rioters".

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had counted at least 50,235 arrests related to the protests, as reported by Al Arabiya from AFP (3/2).

"The arrests target a wide range of citizens, including students, writers, and teachers," he said.

"In some cases, arrests are accompanied by house searches and seizure of personal belongings," HRANA explained.

HRANA further said it had counted more than 300 forced confessions related to the protests, in which suspects made televised statements after experiencing physical or psychological torture.

Previously, Amnesty International said in a statement last week, thousands of people, including children, had been arrested in the crackdown.

They are said to be at "high risk of enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, death in custody and prolonged imprisonment as well as arbitrary execution following grossly unfair trials."

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's Supreme Court Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has vowed "there will be no leniency" for violators, while the judiciary has indicated some may be charged with crimes punishable by death.

Among those recently arrested was screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, co-writer of Jafar Panahi's film "It was Just an Accident," which was nominated for best international film at this year's Oscars and won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes festival.

Abdollah Momeni and women's rights activist Vida Rabbani were also detained in the same case, after they signed a joint statement with more than a dozen other activists condemning the "organized state crime against humanity" in the crackdown, according to the detained Nobel laureate's foundation, Narges Mohammadi.

Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was arrested during a demonstration in December before the current wave of protests began and has only been allowed one phone call with his family since.

Mohammadi's foundation said prosecutors would only allow him to make new phone calls if he complied with rules about what he said, a condition he rejected.