Iranwire – The Islamic Republic’s security forces have arrested 21 members of Iran’s Arab community in recent days, human rights organizations have reported.
Twelve people were detained in Ahvaz’s Malashiya and Shalengabad neighborhoods on Wednesday.
The Karun Human Rights Organization reported that three brothers – Khaled, Ali, and Mohammad Amouri – were also arrested in Ramshir by intelligence forces.
Sources indicate that the arrests were conducted during home raids without warrants, and the detainees were taken to unknown locations.
Earlier in the week, two Sunni Arabs from Ahvaz’s Malashiya neighborhood, Younes Gharbavi and Reza Zohairi, were detained, reportedly in connection with their religious activities.
On January 5, authorities arrested Hashem Mousavi, 56, a former political prisoner from Ahvaz’s Sheiban area, who previously served a four-year sentence from 2009 to 2013.
Three other Arab activists – Saeed Ismail, Ahlam Bandar, and Milad Bahri – were also recently detained, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
The whereabouts and conditions of all detainees remain unknown to their families.