Iranian forces arrest 21 Arabs, including two minors
Hengaw – Saturday, September 12, 2026
Iranian government forces have arrested at least 21 Arabs, including two children aged 13 and 17, in a series of arrests in Shush and Ahvaz.
Based on information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Mohammad Kaabi, an Arab poet and cultural activist from Shush, was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence forces on Saturday, September 12, 2026, and transferred to an undisclosed location.
IRGC Intelligence forces arrested 12 people during a raid on the village of Abudeh in Ahvaz on Thursday, September 10. Those detained were Reza Savari, Khaled Gharbavi, Jafar Cheldavi, Loghman Batrani, Kamal Batrani, Mostafa Cheldavi and his 13-year-old son Ali Cheldavi, another individual also named Ali Cheldavi, Ebrahim Hamdani, Abbas Heydari, Amir Jaderi, and Hadi Beit Sheikh Ahmad (Abu Kamal), 55. They were transferred to an undisclosed location.
The arrests were religiously motivated. All 12 were guests at Mostafa Cheldavi’s home when they were detained, and several were subsequently transferred to Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz.
In a separate incident, Intelligence Department forces arrested eight people in the Kuy-e Mashali neighborhood of Ahvaz on Friday, September 4. Those arrested were Razi Heydari, 50, Hossein Heydari, 29, Abdolali Asakereh, 30, Majid Sharifi (Savari), 44, Arkan Sharifi, 17, Lafteh Heydari, 36, Hamzeh Sayahi, 34, and Mohammad Savari.
The eight had gathered at Majid Sharifi’s home when Intelligence Department forces surrounded and entered the property. The forces beat them before arresting them without warrants and transferring them blindfolded to an undisclosed location.
During the raid, the forces thoroughly searched Sharifi’s home, confiscated the mobile phones of those present, and seized his vehicle.
Several of those arrested were transferred to the quarantine section of Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz on Wednesday, September 9, while Majid Sharifi remains held at an Intelligence Department detention facility.
Sharifi has previously been summoned and arrested and has served a prison sentence.
