“Every Night They Come”: Life in Behbahan After the Protests

Iranwire – “It’s as if Behbahan, a city in the oil-rich Khuzestan province, has been placed under martial law. Every night, we fear they will raid our home because, almost every night, they have taken people from every neighborhood. Many have wounded people in their homes and are mostly worried that the agents might find them.” These are the words of Ataollah, a citizen of Behbahan, speaking to IranWire. He emphasized: “It’s not unlikely they are wiretapping us right now.”

When repressive forces in Behbahan, in Khuzestan province, failed to overcome protesters on Thursday, January 8, the forces of the “Imam Hassan Mojtaba Corps” took control of the city on January 9, and widespread arrests began.

Residents of Behbahan have faced nightly home raids for the past 26 nights and have found it difficult to report on the situation. IranWire spoke with three eyewitnesses who described a “quasi-martial law” environment since the deployment of the Imam Hassan Mojtaba Corps. Every night, various units from IRGC Intelligence and the Ministry of Intelligence raid homes to carry out arrests. This corps is a brigade stationed at a base called “Amir Hazer,” about 15 kilometers from Behbahan, and has been responsible for the simultaneous suppression of Behbahan and Ramhormoz.

Rouzbeh, 60, a resident of the Eslamabad neighborhood, told IranWire: “I went to the Revolutionary Court to follow up on my nephew’s arrest. Many people were there, hoping to get news or post bail. People there were saying that in just one night, 150 people were arrested.”

A civil activist who requested total anonymity added: “I am certain that more than a thousand people have been arrested since January 9. I even know that several detainees have been transferred to Ahvaz.”

Ahvaz is the provincial capital of Khuzestan. Transferring detainees to a larger city often makes it harder for families to track their loved ones and usually suggests that the detainees are facing more serious security charges handled by higher-level intelligence branches.

Malihe, another resident, said: “This time, many things were different from 2019. On Thursday, none of the police or IRGC forces could stop the people. The shootings and arrests started on January 9 and are continuing.”

They Burned the “Bardi Mosque” Because It Revived Memories of the 1979 Revolution

Malihe, 21, lives in the Lab-e Ab neighborhood. She and her relatives were active in the November 2019 protests and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. Regarding the January 8 call for protests, she explained: “The crowd was incomparable to 2019. I can say more than 15,000 people were in the streets. It was so vast that the police and IRGC couldn’t do anything in the early hours. The main suppression happened on the 19th (January 9).”

She noted that, unlike in 2019, people did not attack banks. “What I witnessed was the crowd’s attack on the Bardi Mosque. They set it on fire.”

The Bardi Mosque holds a specific symbolic place in the history of the Islamic Republic. Before the 1979 Revolution, it was a hub for the Mansouron, a radical Islamist guerrilla group. High-ranking officials such as Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander, and Ali Shamkhani, a former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, were members. By burning it, protesters symbolically attacked what many view as the cradle of the current regime’s elite.

According to Malihe, protesters also vented their anger on traffic signs and, in particular, on security and traffic cameras throughout the city. She added: “The shootings and arrests mostly relate to January 9, when IRGC forces entered from outside the city and seized it.”

According to Ata, another resident, the Bardi Mosque is known among locals as “the Gaza Strip” because of its history of radical revolutionary activity.

He also described the geography of the violence: “Many of the shootings happened around Shahidzadeh Hospital and the Karam-Nasab crossroads on the western side of Behbahan. People found Kalashnikov (AK-47) shell casings there.”

According to Ata, locals estimate that at least 200 people were arrested by the IRGC in the late hours of Friday, January 9. “These numbers might not be exact because protesters have no central organization to keep statistics. But I am basing this on what my friends in the Judiciary have said. What I hear from employees at the Revolutionary Court is that more than a thousand people have been arrested from January 9 until now.”

Every Night, People Are Arrested

One civil activist from Behbahan told IranWire about the wave of arrests: “People are trapped between IRGC Intelligence and three judges whose backgrounds are known to all of us. Those detained in the days after January 9 were arrested under warrants issued by these three judges. For example, one of them is Ruhollah Farzad-Nasab, an interrogator at Branch 2 of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, who has previously pressured teachers’ union activists. Another is Davoud Shirali, the interrogator of Branch 3, and the third is Abbas Karami, the assistant prosecutor of Branch 5 of the Behbahan Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office.”

The activist also spoke about the unknown status of three detainees transferred from Behbahan to Ahvaz, adding: “One of the detainees is Majid Mohtashaminia, a teacher from Behbahan, who we heard was transferred to Ahvaz. We also heard that Sajjad Banadari and Ramin Khani were transferred to Ahvaz.”

Ataollah described how the arrests are carried out: “What I’ve heard from Judiciary employees is that they are reviewing security camera footage and have seized every available camera across the city for analysis. The ‘leaders’ of the protests are arrested and taken away by the Provincial IRGC, while educated individuals and cultural figures are taken by the Ministry of Intelligence.”

There is often a form of competition between IRGC Intelligence and the Ministry of Intelligence. The IRGC typically handles those it deems operational threats or rioters, while the Ministry of Intelligence often targets the intellectual or civil side of dissent, such as teachers, students, and journalists.

A rumor circulating among residents of Behbahan claims that during the protests, the IRGC used drones to identify protesters and that the nightly home raids are the result of data gathered from those drones.

Ataollah also pointed to the Eslamabad neighborhood, located in eastern Behbahan along the road to Gachsaran: “Families who generally live in Eslamabad have been visiting the Judiciary more frequently these days to follow up on the arrest of family members. For this reason, most of those arrested are likely from this neighborhood.”

According to Ataollah, the role of the Lurs was particularly prominent in the January 2026 protests, and their level of participation was higher than during previous protest waves in November 2019 and the fall of 2022.

The Lurs are one of Iran’s major ethnic groups, known for their distinct language and strong tribal ties. Lur-populated areas, such as Khuzestan and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, are often among the most restive regions during protests due to long-standing grievances over economic marginalization and environmental issues, including water diversion.

Ataollah also discussed the funerals and burials of two young Lurs from the Bahmai tribe, which is close to Behbahan but located in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province: “Hamidreza Hemmati was a 21-year-old student who was shot and killed in Isfahan. He was in his final year studying linguistics and was buried near Behbahan recently. In the Eslamabad neighborhood, the population is largely Lur.”

According to Ataollah, during the 2019 protests, two brothers from the Dashtinia family from the same neighborhood were also shot and killed by security forces. He was referring to Mehrdad Dashtinia and Mahmoud Dashtinia.

No Information Can Be Obtained on the Wounded

Rouzbeh, a retired nurse, has been frequently consulted in recent days to help treat the wounded, both directly and indirectly. He said: “What we know for certain is that at least two women and three men have lost an eye. Hospital records and photos of one of them have been published. One of them is named Amir-Reza Partabi, who had one eye removed.”

Targeting protesters’ eyes with birdshot or pellets has been a documented tactic of Iranian security forces since the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. Human rights groups have described this as a deliberate attempt to permanently maim protesters and instill fear.

Based on Rouzbeh’s estimates, at least 100 people were injured during the January 9, 2026 crackdown and are currently being treated at home.

He emphasized to IranWire: “In these conditions, given the atmosphere in the city and the nightly raids for arrests, it is impossible to reach the wounded in time. We don’t even know whether some of them need surgery or blood. Many people simply do not dare to tell anyone that there is a wounded person in their home.”