Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – Human rights activists and social-media users have raised alarm over the fate of Shaker Buri, a popular Iranian satirist who was recently detained.
Buri, known for his humorous critiques of the country’s state of affairs, has reportedly been detained by the Intelligence Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the southwestern city of Abadan.
It comes amid a crackdown on celebrities and sports and cultural figures in Iran who have supported protesters angered by the death of a young woman while in police custody last year for an alleged violation of the mandatory head-scarf law.
Buri went missing on July 31 after visiting the IRGC Intelligence Office in Abadan to retrieve his mobile phone, which had been confiscated during a raid on his home by plainclothes officers, according to social-media reports.
The activist HRANA news agency said Buri remained unaccounted for eight days later amid reports by alleged eyewitnesses that he was seen at the Intelligence Office in Abadan last week.
“The family has reached out to various security and judicial bodies seeking information about their son. Yet, clear answers remain elusive,” a source close to Buri’s family told HRANA.
Unverified social-media accounts have recently alleged that the Intelligence Office had advised the satirist’s family to notify the police and formally declare him missing.
Since the death in September 2022 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody after allegedly breaking the hijab law, Iranians have flooded the streets across the country to protest against a lack of rights, with women and schoolgirls putting up unprecedented shows of support in what is considered one of the biggest threats to the Iranian regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Amini’s death, which officials blamed on a heart attack, sparked a wave of protests across the country. The authorities have met the unrest with a harsh crackdown that rights groups say has killed more than 500 people, including 71 children.
Officials have blamed the West for inciting the protests and vowed to crack down even harder on the protests.
Several thousand people have been arrested, including many protesters, as well as journalists, lawyers, activists, digital rights defenders, and others.
