There is no news available on civil activist Ghasem Heydari, 30, residing in Ahwaz, who was Kidnapped on February 1st, 2018. According to his friends, the state security forces placed a plastic hood over his head and violently whisked him to their car. There is no information available on his whereabouts.
Iranian regime has started to arrest of renowned human rights defenders since January 1st, 2018, as the latest episode in a long crackdown on any form of peaceful activism in the country.
Amnesty International raised grave concerns about the “coordinated arrests” of Iranian activists which started with the arrest of Shima Babaei and her husband Dariush Zand, Saeed Eghbali, Leila Farjami, Mahmoud Masoumi and Behnam Mousivand.
The statement reads in part: “These arrests are only the latest episode in a long crackdown on any form of human rights work in Iran, intended to wipe out the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the country. We urge the Iranian authorities to stop this attack on human rights defenders and allow them to work in a safe environment without fear of reprisals.”
Notably dozens of university students and young human rights defenders, have already been detained and denied freedom.
Alireza Rahimi, member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the regim’s parliament, was cited The state-run ILNA news agency on February 2, as saying that according to Asghar Jahangir, head of the National Prisons Organization, “the total number of those detained during the incidents in January amounts to 4972 people, 94.73 per cen of whom are men and 5.27 per cent are women. 438 of them remain in detention. Another 55 persons are detained by the Ministry of Intelligence.”
Source » iran-hrm