At least 117 people arrested across Iran in August 2026
Hengaw – Tuesday, September 1, 2026
At least 117 people whose identities have been verified were arrested by security forces across Iran during August 2026, according to data compiled by the Statistics and Documents Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
Those arrested or abducted included at least 20 women activists, two children, 75 Kurds, 14 Baha’is, and six Baloch individuals. The highest number of arrests was recorded in Urmia (West Azerbaijan) Province, with 45 cases.
Breakdown of arrests by province
The highest numbers of arrests were recorded in Urmia (West Azerbaijan) Province, with 45 cases, followed by Kurdistan (Sanandaj) Province with 20 and Ilam Province with eight.
Urmia (West Azerbaijan) Province: 45 cases, all Kurds
Kurdistan (Sanandaj) Province: 20 cases
Ilam Province: 8 cases, all Kurds
Khuzestan Province: 6 cases, including 4 Arabs, 1 Lor, and 1 person whose ethnic identity could not be verified
Mazandaran Province: 6 cases, including 1 Mazani and 5 Persians
Sistan and Baluchestan and East Azerbaijan provinces: 5 cases each
Alborz Province: 5 cases
Isfahan and Tehran provinces: 3 cases each
Razavi Khorasan Province: 3 cases, including 1 Kurd and 2 Persians
South Khorasan, Lorestan, Kermanshah (Kermashan), Yazd, Gilan, Qom, and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces: 1 case each
Hormozgan Province: 1 case, involving a Baloch individual
Breakdown by national and ethnic minorities
Hengaw’s statistics show that at least 75 Kurds were arrested by Iranian state institutions during August, accounting for approximately 64% of all verified arrests across Iran that month. At least six Baloch and five Turk individuals were also arrested.
Kurds: 75
Persians: 20
Baloch: 6
Turks: 5
Arabs: 4
Lors: 3
Gilaks and Mazanis: 2
Ethnic identity not verified by Hengaw: 2
Arrests of religious minorities
Arrests of members and activists of religious minorities continued during August. Hengaw documented at least 17 such arrests, including 14 Baha’is, two Sunni activists, and one Shia activist. Seven of the Baha’is arrested were women.
Baha’i activists:
Soraya Manouchehrzadeh from Sari; Arsalan Yazdani, Babak Zeinali, Sahba Taef, Fouad Taefi, Shervin Shabrokh, and Ali Bagher-Kashi, all from Karaj; Maral Roshani, Negar Badiei, Shima Sanaei, and Fakhereh Zahedi from Sari; Iman Rashidi from Yazd; Sarir Moghen from Isfahan; and Elham Khalas from Isfahan.
Sunni activists:
Seyed Latif Sabri from Mahabad and Milad Heydari from Ahvaz.
Shia activist:
Mohammad-Bagher Kharazi from Qom.
At least two children arrested in August 2026
Data compiled by Hengaw’s Statistics and Documents Center show that Iranian security institutions arrested at least two children under the age of 18 during August, representing approximately 1.7% of all verified arrests that month.
The two children, one Kurdish and one Baloch, were:
1. Kurdia Hamidi, 16, from Divandarreh
2. Setayesh Bameri, 17, from Iranshahr
Twenty women activists arrested in August 2026
At least 20 women activists were arrested by security institutions during August, accounting for approximately 17% of all verified arrests that month.
Those arrested included at least seven Baha’i women and eight Kurdish women:
Sari: Soraya Manouchehrzadeh, Maral Roshani, Negar Badiei, Shima Sanaei, Fakhereh Zahedi
Mahabad: Shirin Masoudi, Seyran Arabi
Isfahan: Sarir Moghen, Elham Khalas
Iranshahr: Shima Bameri, Saemeh Bameri
Urmia: Befrin Ahmad-Vash
Chaldoran: Zahra Pirdehghan
Maku: Parvin Rasegh-Ghezelbash
Bandar Abbas: Leila Moalemi
Piranshahr: Nazanin Hosseinpour
Divandarreh: Maryam Moradian
Abdanan: Razieh Hashemi
Dezful: Najmeh Sadat Bonyan
Mashhad: Maryam Tajangi
Arrests of university faculty and students
During August 2026, Hengaw documented the arrests of at least one university faculty member and one student.
University faculty:
Mehdi Saadvandi from Isfahan
Student:
Shahriar Shams from Tehran
Arrests of media activists
Hengaw recorded no arrests of media activists during August 2026.
Arrests of writers and artists
During August 2026, Iranian security institutions arrested at least one writer and two artists.
Writer:
Amin Souri from Khorramabad
Artists:
Amin Naseri from Ilam
Armin Nourani from Tehran
The identities of all 117 individuals have been documented by the Statistics and Documents Center of Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. These statistics may be used with attribution to Hengaw. The figures include only cases in which the individuals’ full identities have been verified by Hengaw.
