Iran’s Judiciary said on Tuesday that it had opened cases against reformist politicians who were detained last week and released on bail, on charges of “propaganda against the system”, after criticizing the repression of protests in which thousands of people died in January. “As for the people detained in recent days and who are related to the Reform Front, a case has been opened in the Prosecutor’s Office for propaganda against the system,” Iranian Judiciary spokesman Asgar Jahangir said at a press conference, according to Iranian news agency Mizan. Jahangir indicated that, although these people were released on bail of 50 billion riyals (around 26,600 euros), their cases remain under investigation.
Last week, Iranian authorities detained six members of the Reform Front – a coalition of moderate parties that seeks to open the country within the framework of the Islamic Republic –, and released four of them days later: leader Azar Mansouri; spokesperson Javad Emam; Mohsen Aminzadeh, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (1997-2005); and former parliamentarian Ebrahim Asgharzadeh. The other two detainees, Hossein Karrubi and Ali Shakourirad, remain in prison serving previous sentences that had been suspended.
They had all criticized the violent crackdown on anti-government protests that began on December 28 last year over the fall of the rial in Tehran, but which soon spread to the rest of the country amid calls for the end of the Islamic Republic. These mobilizations were stifled after a repression in which the Iranian government recognized 3,117 deaths, while opposition organizations such as HRANA, based in the United States, put the number of deaths at 7,015, although they continue to verify more than 11,700 possible deaths and estimate around 53,000 arrests.
In addition to the arrest of politicians, numerous activists have been arrested in recent weeks, including screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, nominated for an Oscar for the film A Simple Accident. The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Narges Mohammadi, was also sentenced on February 8 to a new sentence of seven years in prison, the tenth sentence against her since 2021.
