December protests – 21 additional arrests reported across multiple Iranian cities
Hengaw – Tuesday, January 6, 2026
At least 21 additional individuals, including a 17-year-old child and two women, have been arrested by Iranian authorities in the cities of Tehran, Yasuj, Mashhad, Izeh, Shiraz, Khorramabad, Andimeshk, Tabriz, Sabzevar, and Qazvin.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has learned that Rezvan Riahi, Soroush Ghadiri, and Mehran Amin-Amlashi, three Gilak individuals, were arrested in Amlash, Gilan province, during the day on Monday, January 5, 2026.
Ali Hassan Bahamin, a teachers’ trade-union activist, along with Shahin Yousefi, Ali Ahmadi, and Mersad Rostampour, were arrested in Yasuj later the same day. Bahamin was detained while delivering a speech outside the Governor’s Office in Yasuj and was subsequently transferred to a Law Enforcement detention facility.
Reza Koushkinejad, a former political prisoner from Khorramabad, Ali Ziaei, 23, who was arrested on Rahnamayi Street in Mashhad, and Yurosh Mehralibeigloo, a Turkish political activist, were also taken into custody in Tabriz during the evening of Monday, January 5, 2026.
Saman Nikpendar, a 17-year-old child, was violently arrested in Sabzevar on the same day, with sources reporting the use of force and beatings during his arrest.
Rahman Azarmirad in Tabriz, Ebrahim Rokhshan in Yasuj’s Saat Square, and Amin Payamni, a Lor resident of Andimeshk in Khuzestan province, were arrested on Sunday, January 4, 2026.
Shahram Talebinejad was arrested in Tabriz, while Benjamin Nagdi, a 26-year-old athlete from Shiraz, was detained during protests on Saturday, January 3, 2026. State-affiliated media later published forced confessions from Nagdi regarding the alleged burning of a government security force member.
Amirsam Houshiar, 19, was violently arrested by plainclothes agents in Tehran’s Tehranpars district on the same day, January 3, 2026.
Fariba Hosseini, a dentist and civil activist in Shiraz, and Raheleh Zardkouhi, a 27-year-old Baloch woman, were arrested in Mashhad on Friday, January 2, 2026.
Hamed Hemmati, a political prisoner residing in Qazvin, and Iman Khodari, a 32-year-old former political prisoner from Izeh and a detainee during the Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) movement, were arrested in Izeh on Thursday, January 1, 2026, and transferred to undisclosed locations.
