Iran arrests 28 people, including six women and one child, amid protests
Hengaw – Friday, January 9, 2026
Amid the ongoing wave of arrests linked to the December 2025 protests, Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has verified that at least 28 people, including six women and one child, have been arrested by Iranian authorities across multiple cities in Iran.
The arrests were confirmed in Zahedan, Karaj, Bojnurd, Mashhad, Neyriz, Lahijan, Qazvin, Mahdishahr, Shiraz, Yasuj, Davarzan, Dezful, Dehdasht, Tehran, Borujen, Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Rasht, and Sabzevar.
According to reports received by Hengaw, Narges Sharifi, a Lor woman from Borujen in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, was arrested in her hometown in the early hours of Thursday, January 8, 2026. On the same day, Amirparsa Neshat, a Tehran-based influencer and podcaster, was arrested in the Shahrak-e Gharb district of Tehran.
At the same time, four other individuals — Maryam Kazemi Kashkoli, a Qashqai Turk resident of Shiraz, Sara Askariyan, 22, Mahdiar Yaghoubi, and Ali Zanganeh — were arrested during protests in Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Razavi Khorasan Province.
During protests held in Rasht, Fatemeh Hataminejad, 20, from Sabzevar, Mehdi Mehri, from Davarzan, and Mahsa Basir Tavana, a Gilak woman originally from Golestan Province, were arrested on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.
Elsewhere, seven Lor men — Issa Foroughi, Jaber Foroughi, Iman Foroughi, Jamal Askari, Asghar Vahdat, Pourya Barati, and Farzad Barkouh — all from the village of Gachi in Dehdasht County, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, were arrested during protests in their village after Iranian authorities opened fire toward residents.
Later the same day, Asad Abedi was arrested in Yasuj, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, and Sina Mohammadi, 25, was arrested in Dezful, Khuzestan Province. In addition, Rouhollah Arab was arrested in Mahdishahr, Semnan Province, Pezhman Parsa in Shiraz, and Parsa Ghobakhloo, a university student, in Tehran.
Souri Chegini Babaei, a former political prisoner from Qazvin, was violently arrested during protests in the city on the evening of Tuesday, January 6, 2026. No information has so far been made available regarding her whereabouts or condition.
Ali Akbar Bamari, a 17-year-old Lor child, was arrested in Neyriz County, Fars Province on Sunday, January 5, 2026. Despite repeated follow-ups by his family, no information has been released about his fate.
On the same day, Mahan Ghane, a Gilak man from Langarud in Gilan Province, was arrested in Lahijan, while another individual, Matin Vazifdar, was arrested in Mashhad during protests.
Hamidreza Esmailpour was arrested during protests in Bojnurd, North Khorasan Province on Saturday, January 4, 2026.
Earlier, Amirhossein Takbaz, 24, was arrested in Karaj, Alborz Province on Friday, January 2, 2026.
In a separate case, a 21-year-old Baloch man, a resident of Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, was arrested by Iranian authorities in Mazandaran Province on Tuesday, December 31, 2025.
