IRAN - At Least 3,646 Arrested Since Start of War

IRAN - IHR logo

22 April 2026 :

April 20, 2026 - IRAN. At Least 3,646 Arrested Since Start of War

Arrests Continue Following Ceasefire

Widespread arrests have continued in Iran since the outbreak of the war with Israel and the United States. To date, at least 3,646 people have been arrested, with at least 767 cases reported following the start of the ceasefire on 8 April 2026. IHRNGO has identified 111 civil activists and citizens, which includes human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. In many cases, detainees are being held incommunicado.

IHRNGO calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners detained by the Islamic Republic in Iran.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Director of IHRNGO, stated: "The immediate release of all political prisoners arrested before or after the outbreak of the war must be a central condition of any agreement with the Islamic Republic."

Since 28 February 2026, the start of the 40-day war against Iran, there have been numerous reports detailing the widespread arrest of citizens across the country. According to data collected by Iran Human Rights, at least 3,646 people have been detained over the past 50 days. Of these, at least 767 arrests were recorded after the ceasefire began on 8 April.

Those detained include at least 111 human rights defenders, political activists and ordinary citizens. Given the extensive internet blackouts and the vague statistics provided by Islamic Republic authorities, the actual number of arrests is likely much higher.

The arrests have been carried out by various state entities, including the Ministry of Intelligence, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organisation, the State Security Force, and specialised branches such as the Intelligence and Public Security Police and the Cyber Police (FATA). In several instances, prosecutors' offices and judicial authorities have been responsible for issuing the arrest warrants and coordinating these operations.

The charges levelled against the detainees predominantly include espionage, communicating with foreign intelligence services, transmitting images or coordinates of sensitive locations to foreign-based media, and attempting to establish operational cells or conduct armed activities.

Ahmadreza Radan, the Islamic Republic's Chief of Police, also presented a breakdown of the charges against more than 2,700 recently detained individuals during a special news interview on the state-run IRINN television network on 19 April.

According to Radan, the police have arrested or identified over 900 individuals who were "disturbing public opinion or supporting destructive acts" online. He added that the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have also made additional arrests in this area.

Furthermore, he stated that over 400 individuals who "collected and published images of strike locations and transmitted information," more than 700 "monarchist elements and affiliated networks online," and over 200 "individuals using Starlink alongside technical and networking tools for destructive acts" have also been identified and arrested.

The Chief of Police added that more than 400 protesters and at least 100 "individuals linked to terrorist services and groups" have also been detained.

Data collected by Iran Human Rights indicates that in many instances, the detainees have been held incommunicado, and their families remain in the dark about their whereabouts and legal standing.

Amongst those recently detained is Masoumeh Ajini, a civil activist and member of a justice-seeking family. A source close to the Ajini family told IHRNGO: "Masoumeh was arrested on 4 April in a village in Golestan province and transferred to an unknown location." According to the source, security forces searched her residence at the time of the arrest and confiscated her personal belongings.

The Karaj Revolutionary Court had previously sentenced Masoumeh Ajini to prison. The civil activist was released from Kachoui Prison in Karaj only after completing her sentence. Her brother, Mahmoud Ajini, a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), was arrested in 1981 and executed in Evin Prison in the massacre of political prisoners in 1988.

Furthermore, Mehraveh Khandan, daughter of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, announced on Instagram that her mother had finally contacted the family after 17 days of silence. Sotoudeh stated she is being held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre. The human rights lawyer was either forbidden from disclosing her exact location or was unaware of it herself, per her daughter. Nasrin was arrested at her home in Tehran on 1 April.

According to the data collected by IHRNGO, since the start of the war, the arrests of civil activists have predominantly taken place in the western provinces and Tehran.

The list of human rights defenders, political activists and ordinary citizens arrested over the past 50 days, whose identities have been verified by IHRNGO, is as follows:

- West Azerbaijan (24): Akam Aboubakri, Osman Bayazidi, Hadis Haghighi, Vahab Hosseinzadeh, Houyar Zahabi, Ebrahim Rahmani, Avat Rostami, Avat Sargoli, Souran Sohrabi, Shahab Foroughi, Mohieddin Ghalash, Behnam Ghalash, Yousef Karimi, Anvar Moloudi, Veiseh Mohammadpour, Elshan Abbasi, Ghorban Abbasi, Kaveh Abdollahzadeh, Mansour Abdollahzadeh, Manouchehr Abdollahzadeh, Shahram Azizi, Shavaneh Alizadeh, Maameh Alinejad, Jalal Alavi, Masoud Abdollahzadeh

- Tehran (17): Izad Aghabeigi, Baran Omidian, Dorsa Ayazi, Abbas Danesh, Reza Dalman, Ali Razzagh, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Esmail Shokri, Mohammad-Hassan Khoshchehreh, Koushar Hazrati, Ehsan Ghadiri, Mehrak Karimipour Andarilibi, Leila Pirhadi, Mohammad Pirhadi, Iliya Sabourinasab, Soheil Arabi, Leila Mirghaffari

- Kurdistan (15): Salar Azar, Sirvan Amini, Omid Khorshidi, Kourosh Zahrabi, Ako Soltani, Mohammad Sharifi, Sheikh Zahed Shahabi, Sheida Sheikhi, Bakhtiar Tavousi, Kianoush Adelpour, Zeinab Azizi, Sobhan Azizi, Abdollah Mahjour, Sahar Mehdi, Afshin Najm

- Fars (8): Behzad Basiri, Behzad Yazdani, Romina Khazali, Sara Sepehri, Mandana Sotoudeh, Mahsa Sotoudeh, Negha Siavashi, Mohammad Ali Zahmatkesh

- Khorasan Razavi (7): Sima Anbaei Farimani, Shohreh Haddadian, Zahra Hojjat, Soheila Hosseini, Mohammad-Parsa Golchin, Hossein Mehdipanah, Ahmad Rahimi

- Isfahan (5): Hossein Afrasiab, Zeinab Shafiezadeh, Mohammad Nikbakht, Mahan Hemmati, Nima Hemmati

- East Azerbaijan (4): Akbar Abolfathi, Gholamreza Javadi, Reza Javanmard, Ayoub Shiri

- Sistan and Baluchistan (3): Farough Hamli, Yasin Dehghani, Azizollah Osmani

- Khuzestan (3): Ali Ardaneh, Esmail Bavi, Siamak Sadeghi Chehrazi

- Kerman (3): Shayan Abadi, Houman Forouhari, Minou Mehrabani

- Hamedan (3): Behnoush Darvishi, Afsaneh Rouzbahani, Farideh Ketabi

- Ilam (2): Parastou Chaman-Ara, Sasan Chaman-Ara

- Alborz (2): Ameneh Ghasemzadeh, Ario Moshrefi

- Kermanshah (2): Manouchehr Aghabeigi, Moslem Zarei

- Golestan (2): Masoumeh Ajini, Masoud Abdi

- Yazd (2): Arman Haj-Mohammadi, Yasmin Rahmardeh

- Bushehr (1): Reza Amanifar