Iranian authorities have initiated one of the most extensive suppression campaigns in recent history, with independent monitoring groups reporting more than 50,000 citizens detained during nationwide protests. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based organization, documented at least 50,235 arrests connected to demonstrations that reached their peak intensity on January 8-9 before gradually diminishing.
The crackdown has targeted diverse segments of Iranian society, including students, intellectuals, educators, and cultural figures. Security forces have conducted widespread home invasions, confiscating personal property during arrest operations. Most alarmingly, HRANA has verified over 300 instances where detainees were coerced into televised confessions through physical and psychological torture techniques.
Amnesty International has corroborated these findings, warning that thousands of apprehended individuals, including minors, face severe risks of enforced disappearance, systematic torture, fatal outcomes in detention facilities, and arbitrary executions following unjust judicial proceedings. The judicial apparatus, under leadership of Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has explicitly promised zero leniency toward protesters, with many facing capital charges.
Recent high-profile arrests include Mehdi Mahmoudian, screenwriter for Jafar Panahi’s Oscar-nominated film ‘It was Just an Accident,’ which recently earned the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Festival. Simultaneously, authorities detained Abdollah Momeni and women’s rights advocate Vida Rabbani after they endorsed a collective statement condemning what they termed “organized state crimes against humanity.”
The situation remains particularly dire for Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi, arrested during December demonstrations preceding the current protest wave. Mohammadi has been permitted only one monitored telephone communication with relatives since her detention, with authorities imposing strict censorship conditions on future contacts that she has refused to accept.