More than 50 people were arrested, including five women human rights defenders, while they were taking part in a memorial ceremony honouring a recently deceased fellow human rights defender. The Observatory (FIDH-OMCT) and the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) strongly condemn these new arrests and call on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those arbitrarily detained, including human rights defenders.
Paris-Geneva, 18 December 2025. On 12 December 2025, more than 50 people were arbitrarily arrested by plainclothes agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) using batons and tear gas canisters in the city of Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, at a memorial honouring human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who died on 5 December 2025 under suspicious circumstances.
Detainees include: journalist, spokesperson of Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), and 2023 Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi; documentary filmmaker and vice-president of the Iranian Association for Defence of Press Freedom Alieh Motallebzadeh; labour rights activist and freelance journalist Sepideh Gholian; students’ rights activist Hasti Amiri; writer and civil rights activist Pooran Nazemi; human rights lawyer Javad Alikordi, brother of the deceased; two other lawyers; family members of victims of post September 2022 protests; and several members of Khosrow Alikordi’s family.
A few of the arrested people have been released on bail, while the Mashhad prosecutor confirmed the detention of 39 persons. Some of the detainees are being held in Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison, some others in Mashhad’s Soroush detention centre. The whereabouts of others remain unknown. Narges Mohammadi, Sepideh Gholian, Javad Alikordi and a number of other detainees have been charged with “spreading propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion against national security”. Some of the cases have been referred to Branch 902 of Mashhad Justice Department, including that of Narges Mohammadi, and some others to Branch 901. Detaining agents also accused Narges Mohammadi of “collaborating with Israel.”
Narges Mohammadi was able to call her family and reported that she was violently beaten with batons and sticks on the head and neck by security forces during her arrest, and was taken to the hospital twice since her detention due to the injuries she suffered. Sepideh Gholian and Pooran Nazemi were also beaten during their arrest, according to eyewitnesses.
The Observatory and LDDHI recall that Narges Mohammadi had been released in December 2024, under a three-week temporary medical leave, which was extended as she was undergoing medical treatment. Prior to her temporary release, Narges Mohammadi had been arbitrarily detained in Tehran’s Evin prison since November 2021. During her three years of arbitrary detention, her health condition deteriorated severely, as the prison administration repeatedly denied her medical care.
The Observatory and LDDHI further recall that Narges Mohammadi was brutally arrested in November 2021 while taking part in a ceremony to pay tribute to a victim killed during anti-government protests in November 2019. She was sent to Evin prison, where she was sometimes placed in solitary confinement. Since 2021, Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced while in detention to a total of 15 years and six months in prison, 154 lashes, and bans on travelling abroad, conducting political and social activities, and using smartphones. As her release in December 2024 was granted on medical grounds, if she is convicted again, she may face the enforcement of all those sentences and the remainder of any pending sentence. Between 2015 and 2020, she was arbitrarily detained in Zanjan prison, Zanjan Province, where her health deteriorated. Throughout her imprisonment, she has suffered physical assaults and sexual abuses.
Alieh Motallebzadeh, Sepideh Gholian, Hasti Amiri, and Pooran Nazemi all previously served prison terms as well, and some of them have pending cases against them. Pooran Nazemi is in poor health.
The Observatory and LDDHI strongly condemn the arbitrary arrest of Narges Mohammadi, Alieh Motallebzadeh, Sepideh Gholian, Hasti Amiri, Pooran Nazemi, Javad Alikordi, and all others detained at the memorial service.
The Observatory and LDDHI express their utmost concern over the great risk of deterioration of the health in detention of Narges Mohammadi and Pooran Nazemi, as their conditions warrant timely and adequate medical treatment, which cannot be provided in prison due to the deplorable sanitary conditions, as evidenced during their previous detentions.
The Observatory and LDDHI urge the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Narges Mohammadi, Alieh Motallebzadeh, Sepideh Gholian, Hasti Amiri, Pooran Nazemi, Javad Alikordi, and all other human rights defenders and activists arbitrarily detained, including women human rights defenders, who are deprived of their liberty solely because of their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities. The signatories further urge the Iranian authorities to provide Ms Mohammadi, Ms Nazemi, and any other detainee in need, with timely and adequate medical care while they remain detained.
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
The League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) was founded in Paris in March 1983, following the forced closure of the “Iranian Association for the Defence of Human Rights and Liberties” (established in 1977) in 1981, and the departure of its leaders into exile. Since its establishment, LDDHI has consistently reported and campaigned against human rights violations in Iran, concentrating on the abolition of the death penalty in Iran, women’s rights, freedom of political prisoners, rights of religious and ethnic minorities, freedoms of expression, assembly and association among others. LDDHI has been a member of FIDH since 1986.
