Head and Members of Iran’s Left-Leaning Reform Front Arrested Or Summoned
Head of the Reform Front of Iran, Azar Mansouri, and at least two other members of the Front have been arrested on February 8, according to Iranian state media . Mansouri’s lawyer said that the reason of her arrest and her whereabouts were not immediately clear.
Iranian judiciary accused the arrested of acting in the interests of Israel and the United States. "They took steps to incite the internal atmosphere of the country" and "worked to destroy national cohesion by making accusations and spreading untrue statements against the country,” the statement by the Judiciary Media Center says suggesting more arrests will follow.
A few days after the bloody suppression of the January protests, the Reform Front issued a statement saying that "a large segment of Iranian citizens have lost their trust in all the institutions, and government agencies that were supposed to protect, represent, and pursue people’s demands.”
Azar Mansouri is the first woman to head a major political movement in Iran. The Front unites 31 parties and groups and until recently had been seen as a “loyal” opposition group – one that does not seek a regime change in Iran, but is advocating structural reforms from within, such as suspension of uranium enrichment, lifting of social restrictions, and an end of censorship.
The harsh suppression of mass protests in January, however, deepened fractures within the Front with many of its members denouncing one of its own, President Masud Pezeshkian, for siding with the regime's conservative wing and not acting to reform it and save the lives of protestors.
Iranian Nobel Prize Winner Mohammadi Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison
Narges Mohammadi -- the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been detained since December -- has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, along with a travel ban and internal exile, according to one of her lawyers.
Writing on X, defense attorney Mostafa Nili announced on February 8 that Mohammadi had been sentenced to six years in prison on conspiracy and collusion against national security and to one and a half years in prison for propaganda activities.
He added that she was also additionally handed a two-year travel ban and two years of internal exile in the northeastern city of Khusf.
Nili said Mohammadi called from detention in Mashhad to say she had been taken to court, where the verdict was delivered. She also told him she had recently been hospitalized due to poor health before being returned to custody, and the call was cut off as she began describing the situation.
The 53-year-old, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for more than two decades of fighting for women's rights in Iran, was detained along with several other activists in December by Iranian security forces during a memorial ceremony in Mashhad for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer and human rights activist whose death sparked controversy and allegations of foul play.
It was announced earlier this month that she had begun a hunger strike “to protest her unlawful detention and the dire conditions in which she is being held, realities faced by numerous political prisoners currently held in Iran.”
Jailed Iranian Reporter 'Severely Beaten' In Custody, Husband Says
The husband of jailed Iranian journalist Vida Rabbani says that she has been assaulted while in detention.
Hamidreza Amiri wrote on Instagram that while visiting Rabbani at a prison in the northern Caspian city of Tonekabon on February 7, he had seen “numerous and clearly visible” bruises on his wife’s body.
“They had severely beaten her,” he said. “Because she refused to comply with the compulsory hijab, he hair had been pulled out.”
Rabbani, who had previously been imprisoned in 2022 following the Woman, Life, Freedom movement protests, was detained again two weeks ago after signing a statement, along with 16 others, calling for the peaceful removal of the Tehran government.
Several other signatories, including political activists Mehdi Mahmudian and Abdollah Momeni, have also been arrested.
Iran Insistent On Uranium Enrichment
- By RFE/RL
Iran's foreign minister insisted on his country's right to enrich uranium, striking a defiant note as a US naval strike force sailed in regional waters amid weeks of unprecedented domestic turmoil inside Iran.
Abbas Araqchi's comments followed talks between US and Iranian officials in Oman over the fate of Iran's nuclear programs. Tehran says its programs are peaceful in nature, aimed at generating electricity; Washington and other countries suspect Tehran is striving to build an atomic weapon.
"Zero enrichment can never be accepted by us," Araqchi was quoted as saying on February 8. "Hence, we need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside Iran while building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes."
"Iran's insistence on enrichment is not merely technical or economic [...] it is rooted in a desire for independence and dignity," he said. "No one has the right to tell the Iranian nation what it should or should not have."
The talks, which took place in Oman, came amid an American military buildup in the Middle East.
Tensions have spiked in recent weeks as Iran has been roiled by unprecedented street protests in Tehran and other cities.
Read more here
Here's a short clip of White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who headed the negotiations in Oman, visiting the USS Abraham Lincoln yesterday along with the head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper.
“Today [we] met with the brave sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, her strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 9 who are keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength,” Witkoff said on social media.
He was joined by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has played a central role in negotiations as well.
Teachers Council List Of Student Fatalities Rises To 200
The Coordinating Council of Teachers’ Trade Associations announced on February 8 that its list identifying students killed in the latest wave of nationwide protests has risen to 200.
The umbrella body of independent teachers' unions in Iran has also published the names and details of all the deceased students in a video posted on X.
Last week, Amin Hossein Rahimi, the Islamic republic’s justice minister, acknowledged that security forces had detained children under the age of 18 and said that some of them remain in custody for “investigations.”
On February 8, the deputy minister for cultural and student affairs at Iran's Health Ministry said that “nearly 100 students across the country” were killed during protests in January.
Rights Group Reports Executions Of 13 Prisoners In Iran
The Human Rights News Agency (HRANA) reported on February 7 that “at least 13 prisoners” were executed in several cities across Iran.
According to HRANA, a US-based Iranian human rights monitoring group that tracks arrests, executions, and abuses, the prisoners had been “sentenced to death on charges related to drug offenses and murder.
The executions were carried out in the cities of Khorramabad, Sanandaj, Dezful, Aligudarz, Kermanshah, Yasuj, Nahavand, Zahedan, Hamedan, and at the central penitentiary in Karaj.
While the Tehran government has launched a new wave of executions over the past year — resulting in a record high globally -- a fresh round of protests at the turn of the year and the arrest of thousands of demonstrators have raised concerns that those detainees may also face death sentences.
On February 4, Iran Human Rights – a Norway-based rights group documenting executions and repression in Iran -- warned in a report that many of those detained in the protests could be “facing an escalating risk of mass death sentences, executions and extrajudicial killings.”
Iranians Rally In Dozens Cities Worldwide In Support Of Protesters
Iranians held gatherings and protest marches in dozens of cities around the world on February 7 in support of the people of Iran.
Rallies also took place in Washington, London, Manchester; Berlin, Frankfurt; Hamburg, Bern, Nice, Barcelona, Malmo; and several other European cities, with participants emphasizing the need for international support -- particularly from the US government.
In Orange County in Southern California, a large number of Iranians assembled in the city of Irvine and carrying pre-Islamic Revolution lion-and-sun flags, called on the international community to stop the ongoing killings in Iran.
Protests were also held in the Australian cities of Perth and Brisbane.
WATCH: Hundred Iranians living in Washington, D.C. march on February 7 in support pf protesters in Iran.
WATCH: Protesters rally in Manchester on February 7, supporting protesters in Iran on February 7
WATCH: Rallies are held in Hamburg and Bern on February 7 in solidarity with Iranian protesters.
Good morning.
We'll begin today’s live blog with updated casualty figures from the Hrana human rights group, which has been tracking and verifying victims of the authorities’ harsh crackdown on the recent protests in Iran.
The organization reports that the overall death toll has climbed to 6,961 people and that there have been 51,465 arrests.
In its latest daily assessment of the situation, the group also highlighted "the continuation and expansion of security and judicial crackdowns against protesters and their supporters, ranging from political activists and journalists to medical staff, students, adolescents, and citizens in various cities."
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning at 9:30am Central European time to follow all the latest developments in Iran.