Demonstrators have taken to the streets of tens of major cities in Iran for eight consecutive days since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was killed while in the custody of Iran’s hijab police.
At least fifty people have been killed in the recent protests in several Iranian cities, according to Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) based in Norway. Iranian media close to the state are confirming that at least 35 have been killed including government security forces. Zamaneh Media independently confirms the identities of eight protesters killed by government forces.
Activists and human rights groups outside of Iran are concerned for the safety of protestors, especially in consideration of Iran’s recent shutdown of the internet. The Internet has been either completely cut off in areas where protests have been ongoing or it has been slow in speed, making it difficult for the protesters to communicate with each other and with the outside world. The Iranian state during the 2019–2020 protests known as the Bloody November employed the same strategy of cutting off the internet so that the world would not get information about the atrocities carried out by government forces.
Security forces have arrested dozens of citizens, student activists, women’s rights activists, as well as known civil and political activists in several cities of Iran. Anyone who has the capacity to mobilize or is connected to a grassroots is now a target of Iranian security forces. Families of the detainees have gathered outside prisons in their local hometowns and the government is slow in providing information on the whereabouts of the arrestees.
There is still no information about the fate of many of those arrested during the recent protests. Arrests continued on Saturday, September 24, eight days after the protests started.
The protests against the government’s murder of Mahsa started on Friday, September 16, after the medical team at Tehran’s Kasra hospital pronounced Mahsa dead, protest shaped in front of Kasra hospital in Tehran. The protest continued after Mahsa’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez when mourners organized a peaceful rally outside the city’s governor’s office. Security forces outside the office responded to protestors with tear gas and opened fire. Now the protest has spread to most of Iran’s 31 provinces.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died after falling into a coma following her detention by morality police enforcing hijab in Tehran. She was visiting the capital with her family from Saqqez.
The Tehran police claim Mahsa’s death resulted from a prior heart and brain condition that led to cardiac arrest and a stroke; however, in conversation with Zamaneh, Mahsa’s family states that she was healthy and had no prior health conditions.
Independent women, labor and civil rights organizations express that the murder of Mahsa is “the result of structural and systematic violence against women.”
The government officials in state media were at first stating accountability and the need for an investigation however, recently, the tone of government officials has become alarming, and the range of pressures and threats has also expanded.
The Revolutionary Guards, the Military, the Armed Forces, and governmental authorities, including the Minister of Interior, and the Ministry of Information, threatened the protesters by publishing various statements. On Saturday, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi vowed to take action against protesters.
After the state-run Friday prayer in Tehran, several hundreds of state supporters attended a state-organized pro-hijab rally intended to show force. In the past week, the internet has been disrupted in many cities of Iran, and social media platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp have also been blocked in Iran.
Protests have spread to most Iranian cities resulting in widespread arrests. The number of protestors that have been arrested in recent days is unprecedented. The families had announced in the past days that despite the follow-up, they do not know about the fate, place of detention, and charges against the detainees.
Several journalists, including at least three female journalists, have been detained over coverage of the protests and the death of Mahsa Amini.
Photojournalist Yalda Moaiery, Nilofar Hamedi who reported on Amini’s case, and Fatemeh Rajabi, another journalist have been arrested. The International Federation of Journalists confirmed the arrest of twelve journalists.
The table below shows the names and occupations of the people arrested in the last seven days. The list is not comprehensive and will be updated:
| Name | Occupation / Activism | Place of Arrest |
| Meisam Jolani | Turk Activist (Azeri) | Ardebil |
| Mohammad Jolani | Turk Activist (Azeri) | Ardebil |
| Asgar Akbarzadeh | Turk Activist (Azeri) | Ardebil |
| Saeid Sadeghifar | Turk Activist (Azeri) | Ardebil |
| Abbas Bagheri | University lecturer and reformist political activist | Golestan |
| Ayub Haghighi | Martyr Milan Haghighi’s uncle | Oshnovieh |
| Hooman Mohammadizadeh | Student union activist at Chamran University | Ahwaz |
| Mohammad Arab | Head of Islamic Culture and Civilization Association at Noushirvani University of Babol | Babol |
| Masoud Kordpour | Journalist at Mokrian News Agency | Bookan |
| Khosro Kordpour | Journalist at Mokrian News Agency | Bookan |
| Leila Salehi | Feminist activist | Bijar |
| Abdolrahman Mohammadi Arshad | Environmental activist | Piranshar |
| Ahmadreza Afshar | Graphics student at the Islamic Art University of Tabriz | Tabriz |
| Behrooz Shirbeigi | Sociology BA student at Allameh Tabatabaei Universty | Tehran |
| Mahan Gachpazan Eydgahi | Head of Student Union at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Majid Emamverdi | Law student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Mohammad Nouri | Economics MA student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Sahand Mortazavi | Chemical engineering student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Farhad Shjoa Heidari | Social work MA student at the Allameh Tabatabaei University | Tehran |
| Hadi Mehdi Bagherzadeh | Student | Tehran |
| Zahra Kashkaki | Student | Tehran |
| Kamyar Sharifi | Social policy student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Bardia Shakoorifard | Economic student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Mehrdad Arandan | Economic student at Allameh Tabatabaei University | Tehran |
| Mehdi Bagherzadeh | Cinema student at Azad University (Tehran Unit) | Tehran |
| Amin Tohidi | Student at Allameh Tabatabaei University | Tehran |
| Shahoo Bayazidi | Student at Allameh Tabatabaei University | Tehran |
| Mahsa Abdollahzadeh | Student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Mina Mohammadi | Student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Reyhaneh Marouf | Sociology Student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Yalda Moayyeri | Photojournalist | Tehran |
| Niloufar Hamedi | Journalist | Tehran |
| Shadi Azhdari | Philosophy student at Shahid Beheshti University | Tehran |
| Mohammadreza Jalaeipour | political activist | Tehran |
| Majid Tavakkoli | political activist | Tehran |
| Azin Saeidinasab | Environmental sciences student | Tehran |
| تکراری | Tehran | |
| Mobina Mohammadi | Student at the University of Tehran | Tehran |
| Yousef Teymouri | Sociology Student at Shahid Beheshti University | Tehran |
| Maedeh Delbari | Student at Al-Zahra University | Tehran |
| Iman Behpasand | Journalist | Tehran |
| Sajad Ramezanzadeh | Tehran | |
| Hossein Ronaghi | Political activist | Tehran |
| Siavash Hayati | Spokesperson of the Councelling Assembly of Yaresan Civil Activists and secretary of the Kurdish United Front | Dalahou, Kermanshah |
| Khaled Hosseini | Worker activist | Sanandaj |
| Rojhan Ghaderi | Painter | Sanandaj |
| Jhina Modarres Karaji | Feminist activist | Sanandaj |
| Reza Sharifeh | Civil activist | Sanandaj |
| Narges Hosseini | A Revolution Street Girl | Kashan |
| Rizan Ahmadi | Feminist activist | Kurdistan |
| Karamollah Soleimani | Graduate and former student activist at Kashan University | Gachsaran |
| Mojgan Kavoussi | Civil activist | Mazandaran |
| Khabat (Xabat) Veisi | English language student | Marivan |
| Evin Rasti | Feminist activist | Marivan |
| Alireza Saberian | Head of Islamic Association at the Medical Sciences University of Mashhad | Mashhad |
| Mansoureh Mousavi | Feminist activist, writer and sociologist | Mashhad |
| Masoud Ghalandari | Civil activist | Yasouj |
| Mohsen Ghalandari | Civil activist | Yasouj |
| Kourosh Jalili | Civil activist | Yasouj |
| Amin Heydarian | Civil activist | Yasouj |
| Yasser Farrokhzad | Civil activist | Yasouj |
| Hossein Fatehi | Civil activist | |
| Hanieh Daemi | Civil activist (Atena Daemi’s sister) | |
| Faranak Rafiei | Feminist activist | |
| Baran Saedi | Feminist activist | |
| Mahrou Hedayati | Feminist activist | |
| Azadeh Jema’ati | Feminist activist | |
| Bahar Zangiband | Feminist activist | |
| Golshin Mohammadian | Feminist activist | |
| Alireza Khoshbakht | Journalist and political activist | |
| Zahra Tohidi | Political activist | |
| Ruhollah Nakhaei | Political activist | |
| Hadi Tohidi | Political activist |
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