HRW denounces Iran’s “repressive reflex” after the arrest of opponents, including three film directors

July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced on Tuesday the “repressive reflex” of the Iranian authorities after the arrest of opposition figures, including film directors Mohamad Rasuluf, Jafar Panahi and Mostafá al Ahmad, and the reformist Mostafá Tajzadé .

“Unable or unwilling to address the many serious challenges facing Iran, the government has resorted to its repressive reflex of arresting known critics,” said Sepehri Far, Iran Researcher at HRW.

“There is no reason to believe that these recent arrests are anything other than cynical actions to deter popular outrage at the government’s widespread failures,” he said, according to a statement published by the NGO.

The Revolutionary Guard arrested Tajzadé, who was deputy interior minister, on July 9 on charges of “acting against national security” and “publishing lies with the intention of altering the public situation.”

The man had already been arrested in June 2009, immediately after a presidential election that led to massive protests over fraud protests. After that, he was sentenced to six years in prison for “collusion to disrupt national security.”

According to information from the Iranian news agency IRNA, Rasuluf and Al Ahmad were accused of collecting signatures to support a letter sent by protesters calling for accountability after the death of more than 40 people in the May collapse of a building in the Abadan city.

Rasuluf has been arrested several times and in 2020 he was sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year film ban for “propaganda against the system” in connection with his cinematographic works.

For his part, Panahi was arrested after going to the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office on July 11 to question Rasuluf’s arrest, as part of a campaign of repression since May over protests against deteriorating living conditions. and the economic crisis.

HRW has highlighted that the authorities have arrested, sentenced and returned to prison more than a dozen activists, including prominent figures such as Narges Mohamadi, Said Madani, Keyvan Samimi, Mohamad Habibi and Reza Shahabi.

In addition, during the last week of June several journalists and activists were arrested, sentenced or summoned to testify, including Vida Rabani, Ahmad Reza Haeri, Amir Salar Davudi and Masud Bastani, for which the NGO has called for an end to these arrests and the release of detainees.