147 arrested by security forces of Islamic Republic of Iran in July 2025

Hengaw– Tuesday, August 5, 2025

According to data registered by the Statistics and Documentation Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights,at least 147 people whose full identities have been confirmed were arrested across Iran by security forces in July 2025. This figure marks a 60% increase compared to the same period last year, when at least 92 were arrested.

Among those detained were at least 17 women’s rights activists, 3 children, 81 Kurds, 18 Balochs, and 7 Baha’i activists.
The highest number of arrests occurred in West Azerbaijan (Urmia) Province, with 40 documented cases.

Geographical distribution of arrests:

The highest number of arrests occurred in West Azerbaijan (Urmia) with 40 cases, followed by Kurdistan (Sanandaj) with 31, and Sistan and Baluchestan with 15.
    •    West Azerbaijan (Urmia) : 40 (39 Kurdish, 1 Turk)
    •    Kurdistan (Sanandaj) : 31 (29 Kurdish, 2 Baloch)
    •    Sistan and Baluchestan: 15
    •    Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad: 8
    •    North Khorasan: 6 (6 Kurdish)
    •    Tehran: 6 (3 Kurdish, 2 Persian, 1 American-Jewish)
    •    Bushehr: 5 (1 Lor, 4 Persian)
    •    Isfahan: 5
    •    Ilam: 4
    •    Fars, Gilan, Mazandaran, East Azerbaijan: 3 each
    •    Khuzestan: 3 (2 Lor, 1 Arab)
    •    Razavi Khorasan: 3 (1 Afghan, 2 Persian)
    •    Lorestan: 3
    •    Kerman: 2 (2 foreign nationals)
    •    Golestan, Alborz: 1 each
    •    Qom: 1 (Afghan)
    •    Yazd: 1 (Baloch)

Breakdown of arrested by national and ethnic minorities:

At least 81 Kurds were arrested by the governmental institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the month of July, accounting for 55% of all arrests across Iran during the past month. Additionally, at least 18 Balochs (12%) were also arrested during the same period.

    •    Kurds: 81 (55% of total)
    •    Baloch: 18 (12%)
    •    Persians: 17
    •    Lors: 13
    •    Gilaks: 3
    •    Turks: 2
    •    Arabs: 1
    •    Foreign nationals: 6
    •    Unknown: 6

Religious Minority Arrests

Security forces continued targeting religious minorities. Seven Bahá’í activists and one Christian activist were arrested in July.

Bahá’í detainees:
• Raquel Ataeian
• Soheil Haghdoost
• Amhran Dastournejad
• Lava Samimi
• Sina Aghdasi
• Iraj Nourasteh
• Armaghan Yazdani

Christian detainee:

Mehran Shamlouei (Tehran).

Arrest of at least 3 children  in July 2025

At least three children  were arrested by the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the past month. This figure accounts for 2.5% of the total number of arrests in that month. Among those detained were one girl and two boys, with the youngest being 14 years old.

The three arrested children were Kurd, Baloch, and Arab.

Their identities are as follows:
    1.    Behzad Souri-zehi, 17, from Khash
    2.    Mohammad Ascharavi, 16, from Abadan
    3.    Kazhal Salehi, 14, from Bojnurd

17 Women activists arrested in May

At least 17 women activists were arrested by security forces during the past month. This number accounts for 11.5% of all arrests in that period.

Six of the detained women are Kurdish activists, two are Baháʼí activists, and two are foreign nationals. Their names are as follows:

Shiraz:
    1.    Negin Aminzadeh
    2.    Armaghan Amini

Tehran:
   3. Neda Kargar
  4. Mina Mashhadi Mahdi

Isfahan:
  5. Afrooz Kiani Arthi

Qaemshahr:
  6. Raquol Ataeian

Bukan:
  7. Malek Farajbeigi

Taybad:
  8. Sara Gohari

Bojnurd:
  9. Kajal Salehi

Shirvan:
  10. Azam Naseri

Kamyaran:
  11. Ronak Dashti

Yasuj:
  12. Mahsa Shafiei

Rasht:
  13. Rezita Rajai

Mahabad:
  14. Klara Rasouli

Borujerd:
  15. Leila Saremi

Behbahan:
  16. Forough Khosravi

Kerman:
  17. Lindsey Foreman

Teachers and Students

The crackdown on educators continued in July, with at least 2 teachers and university professors and 1 student arrested:

Teachers:
• Hossein Vahedi (Bojnourd) •Forough Khosravi (Behbahan)

Students:
• Afghan student, Sara Gohari (Taybad)

Arrest of media activists in July

No arrests of media activists were recorded during the past month.

Arrests of Writers and Artists

In May 2025, at least two writers, Pedram Mohammadzadeh from Rudsar and Rezita Rajai from Rasht, along with four artists, Negin Aminzadeh from Shiraz, Negin Kiani Arthi from Isfahan, Mina Mashhadi Mahdi from Yazd, and Amin Karimi from Urmia, were arrested by security forces.

The identities of all these 147 cases have been recorded in the Statistics and Documents
Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.The use of these statistics is permitted
with proper source attribution.