Whereabouts of Mahsa Asadollahnejad and Shirin Karimi unknown following arrest in Tehran
Hengaw – Monday, November 3, 2025
Two Tehran-based intellectuals, Shirin Karimi, a writer and translator, and Mahsa Asadollahnejad, a sociologist and researcher, have been arrested by security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and taken to an undisclosed location.
According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, at around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, November 3, 2025, Shirin Karimi, 42, a writer, translator, and researcher with a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Tehran, was arrested by security agents at her home in Tehran.
That same day, Mahsa Asadollahnejad, 35, a sociologist and researcher with a Ph.D. in political sociology from Tarbiat Modares University, was arrested by security forces at her parents’ home in Tehran.
Sources told Hengaw that security agents searched both women’s homes during the arrests, seizing their electronic devices and books.
Karimi, who holds a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Tehran, has published numerous essays and translations on the Naqd-e Eqtesad-e Siyasi (Critique of Political Economy) website. Her published works include Fifty Years After Savushun, as well as translations of writings by Judith Butler and Afsaneh Najmabadi, and contributions to the series Philosophy Books for Teenagers.
Asadollahnejad, who earned her Ph.D. in political sociology from Tarbiat Modares University, focused her doctoral research on the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran between 1979 and 1989. In recent years, she has actively organized study circles and academic seminars at institutions such as Madreseh Bidar (“Bidar School”).
Recently, Iran has seen a growing wave of repression targeting critical researchers and intellectuals. Security forces have raided the homes of several scholars, confiscating their personal belongings and detaining or summoning some of them for interrogation.
No information has been released regarding the reasons for the arrests, the charges against Karimi and Asadollahnejad, or their current whereabouts.
