Several reformist figures were arrested in Iran, while Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi received seven more years in prison.
Azar Mansouri, the leader of the Reformist Front, was among those detained in Iran
Iranian security forces have arrested several figures from the country’s reformist movement, local media reported on Monday, as Tehran’s crackdown on dissent continues to widen.
Those arrested include Azar Mansouri, the head of the Reformist Front, which represents several factions, former diplomat Mohsen Aminzadeh and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, who was part of the group that stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
According to a Tehran prosecutor’s statement, quoted by Iranian state-run IRNA news agency, four people were arrested and others summoned for meetings with the authorities. The news agency said they were allegedly involved in “organizing and leading… activities aimed at disrupting the political and social situation” in the country amid military threats from the US and Israel.
The arrests come after a reformist statement issued in January that called on Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign. It remains unclear how much support the reformist movement, which largely backed incumbent president Massoud Pezeshkian in the 2024 presidential election, has within Iran.
Meanwhile, detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to another seven years in prison
