December Protests: Iranian authorities detain at least five university students

Hengaw - Sunday, January 4, 2026

At least five university students have been detained by Iranian authorities amid the ongoing wave of arrests linked to the December protests in several cities across Iran.

Based on information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, those detained include Alireza Khazaei, Mohammad Saebi, Erfan Dehghani, Amirmohammad Rostami, and Parsa Loghmani. The arrests were reported in Mazandaran, Tehran, Yazd, and Nahavand.

Parsa Loghmani, a sociology student at University of Mazandaran, was detained during protests in the city on Saturday evening, January 3, 2026, and transferred to an undisclosed location.

Erfan Dehghani Iraj, an engineering student majoring in materials and metallurgy who entered university in 2022 at Iran University of Science and Technology, was detained during protests in Tehran near Haft-Hoz Square on the same day and taken to an undisclosed location.

Mohammad Saebi, a graduate in industrial management from University of Tehran and a former member of the university’s student council, was also detained in Yazd on Saturday, January 3, 2026, and transferred to an undisclosed location.

Amirmohammad Rostami, an architecture student, was detained by Iranian authorities in Tehran on Friday, January 2, 2026.

Alireza Khazaei, a Kurdish university student from Nahavand, was detained during protests in the city on Sunday, December 28, 2025. No information is currently available regarding his fate or whereabouts.