December Protests– Hengaw confirms identities of 37 more detainees, including nine children

Hengaw – Monday, January 5, 2026

At least 37 people, including nine children and three women, have been arrested by forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in multiple cities amid the ongoing December protests. The arrests were reported in Tehran, Amlash (Gilan), Behbahan, Neqab (Joveyn), Shiraz, Mashhad, Shushtar, Qazvin, Karaj (Gohardasht), Bojnurd, Dorud, Sedeh Lenjan, Yasuj, Izeh, and Fuladshahr.
The whereabouts of all detainees remain unknown.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Pejman Nami (36), arrested in Tehran’s Nazi Abad neighborhood; Rezvan Reyhani, a Gilak resident of Amlash; Sajjad Ravad, a Lor resident of the village of Kurdestan-e Kuchak, a suburb of Behbahan; and Mehdi Hassanpour, from Neqab in Joveyn County, were arrested on Sunday, January 4, 2026, by government forces.

On Saturday, January 3, Massoud Afraz (45), a father of three, was arrested in Shiraz. On the same day, Leila Bakhshandeh-Far, a dismissed university lecturer, along with Farhad Ahrari, Mostafa Ahmadiani, and Mojtaba Sirjani, were arrested in Mashhad.

Meanwhile, Shahrokh Shojaei, a Lor resident of Behbahan, and four 17-year-old Lor students from Shushtar—Ahmadreza Khosravi, Emad Ghorbani, Mojtaba Jooei, and Mahan Soleimani—were arrested by authorities.

Separately, on Friday, January 2, Seyed Mehdi Mortazavi was arrested in Qazvin.

On Thursday, January 1, Sina Dehdashti, a 16-year-old child, and Abolfazl Tayebi, both Lor men from Behbahan, along with Soheil Hessari from Gohardasht, Karaj, and Salman Ghodrati, a Kurdish resident of Bojnurd, were detained by government forces.

As the arrests continued, on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, Saber Vafaian-Nejad, a 15-year-old Lor child from Behbahan, and Kourosh Kheiri, a 13-year-old Lor child from Dorud, were also arrested.

On the same day, ten residents of Sedeh Lenjan, Isfahan Province—Atabak Karimi, Sadegh Abdollahi, Houman Bidkani, Mehdi Karimi, Mohammad-Amin Zamani, Omid Jamali, Mohammad Nazari, Mehdi Mahmoudi, Iman Karimi, and Alireza Karimi—were taken into custody.

Additionally, Amirhossein Karimpour, a 16-year-old child; Shima Khorshidian; and Parisa Mousavi, all Lor residents of Yasuj; Mohammadreza Zarei (20), a Lor resident of Izeh; and Afshin Salahshour from Fuladshahr, Isfahan Province, were also arrested.