Alerts

In Iran: A Wave of Arrests of the Regime’s Sharpest Critics

Iran’s crackdown on opponents and “Bad-hijab women”
Share this
Tajzadeh and his wife, Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour
Tajzadeh and his wife, Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour. No one is immune, not even the sister of a founder of Hizbullah. (Wikimedia/Mehr News)

Table of Contents

After changes in the top leadership of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Intelligence Organization, the regime is stepping up its repression of its critics. Three prominent critics of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have been arrested, including a well-known politician and two prominent Iranian filmmakers, and more arrests are expected. The detainees are charged with harming national security. Regime opponents in Iran construed a statement in Khamenei’s speech for the annual day in honor of the legal system – ”The God of the 1980s is still the same God” – as a green light for the legal system and other institutions to crack down harder on the opposition.

Among those arrested was Mostafa Tajzadeh, former deputy interior minister in President Hatami’s government, a senior figure in the reformist camp, and a sharp critic of Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and the religious establishment. Before his arrest on July 8, 2022, Tajzadeh tweeted that the government was again making the dress code for women more onerous.1 He was charged with “organizing and conspiring against national security and publishing false information to disrupt public order,” offenses punishable by imprisonment and lashes. Tajzadeh was previously arrested in 2009 for his involvement in the Green Revolution that followed the presidential elections, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was “elected” to a second term. He was incarcerated for seven years in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison, and upon his release, Tajzadeh resumed his scathing criticism, particularly of Khamenei.

A few hours later, 15 Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization agents arrested Tajzadeh’s wife, Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour, in her home. Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour is the sister of prominent cleric Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipour, who was the interior minister after Iran’s Islamic Revolution, one of the founders of the Lebanese Hizbullah organization, and Iran’s ambassador to Syria. Tajzadeh’s brother, objecting to Khamenei’s government, left Iran and settled in Najaf, Iraq, a few years before his death from COVID-19 in June 2021. Not even Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipour’s distinguished record of helping found Hizbullah and serving the Revolution now helps his family members, who are repeatedly harassed by the current Islamic regime. Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour admonished Khamenei’s wife: “Whatever happens to my husband in prison, the one responsible for it is Ali Khamenei, and your and his son, Mojtaba.”

Tajzadeh regularly criticizes the Iranian regime and Leader Khamenei. He has tweeted, among other things, that if the efforts to revive the nuclear deal fail, Khamenei must be held to account. “In light of the Iranian people’s support for the nuclear deal under the current wretched economic conditions and public discontent, the failure to revive the deal will have destructive consequences, and the responsibility lies mainly with Khamenei.”2

In a recently leaked tape, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was heard referring to former Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani’s involvement in Iran’s decision-making processes and affirming that Iran prioritizes “the battlefield and resistance.” Tajzadeh, for his part, decried this order of priorities: “You now see the result of mixing weapons, information, money, and media together…the result is to prefer resistance and the battlefield to diplomacy. Will the lesson be learned? Or should we cleanse this disgrace with magical waters?”3

Meanwhile, on July 8, 2022, more prominent figures were arrested in their homes: internationally renowned filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e-Ahmad, who won prestigious international prizes even as almost all their films are banned in Iran. The two were detained for issuing a call (also signed by at least 70 other Iranian filmmakers and movie-industry employees) on social media for members of Iran’s security services to lay down their weapons and refrain from assailing citizens demonstrating in the city of Abadan over a building collapse on May 23, 2022, that killed dozens of residents. For this, the two filmmakers were charged with trying “to foment tensions in society and undermine the public order.”

Remains of the Metropol Tower in Abadan
Remains of the Metropol Tower in Abadan (IRNA) View video
Protests in Abadan on May 25, 2022
Protests in Abadan on May 25, 2022 (Iran International)

Mohammad Rasoulof faces two pending prison sentences, which he has appealed, for offenses ranging from filming without authorization to “conspiring against national security.” At the Berlin Festival in 2020, he won the Golden Bear Prize for his movie There Is No Evil, which deals with Iran’s use of the death penalty. It was filmed surreptitiously in defiance of the censor. After receiving the prize, and with three of his other films denounced as “propaganda against the Islamic regime,” Rasoulof was sentenced to a year in prison and forbidden to make any more films or leave Iran. The hashtag “#Lay down your weapon”4 alludes to the violent repression of the protests sparked by the collapse on May 23, 2022, of the Metropol Tower in Abadan in southwestern Iran, where at least 41 people died. The collapse stirred painful memories of previous national disasters and triggered large-scale demonstrations in Abadan. The regime cracked down fiercely. Kava Farnam, the producer of Rasoulof’s films, told Radio Farda on July 9 that immediately after his arrest, the director was placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison to be interrogated.

Film poster
Rasoulof’s film There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear Prize.

Since the launching in May 2022 of the Raisi government’s new economic program, which primarily cuts subsidies, Iranians have kept demonstrating at varying levels of intensity over price rises and subsidy cuts. Teachers, pensioners, and workers from various sectors have also been demanding better work and salary conditions. The more the regime’s economic distress grows, the more it turns the screws on the population by augmenting the severity of the dress code, stifling criticism, and crushing protest. Iran appears to continue to implement Khamenei’s “resistance economy.” The Iranian people pay the price.

* * *

Notes

1 https://twitter.com/mostafatajzade/status/1545265394201640960

2 https://twitter.com/mostafatajzade/status/1543162252169207811

3 https://twitter.com/mostafatajzade/status/1492440959958884354

4 https://www.instagram.com/p/CeQnG7sgqql/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=13e84950-e5fc-4e2a-b42d-8b2f6831d9cf

Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at Acumen Risk Advisors. He previously served as a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Share this

Subscribe to Daily Alert

The Daily Alert – Israel news digest appears every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

Related Items

Stay Informed, Always

Get the latest news, insights, and updates directly in your inbox—be the first to know!

Subscribe to Jerusalem Issue Briefs
The Daily Alert – Israel news digest appears every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.







Notifications

The Jerusalem Center
What makes a child believe killing a #Jew is justified?

In PA textbooks, Jews are called liars and frauds; their fate: elimination. This is #indoctrination—not #education. But change is happening. On East to West, @IMPACT_SE CEO Marcus Sheff exposes how #UNRWA-funded schools are fueling extremism—and what real reform looks like.  Listen now on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2JHqh973U  Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/8OkJTGNfVUc

11:43am
The Jerusalem Center
Highlights from the @Jerusalem_Post Annual Conference in NYC:

Dr. @Dan_Diker, President of the JCFA: “October 7 wasn’t just an attack on Israel — it was a blow to the U.S. on Israeli soil. It demands moral clarity and a united front between Israel and the U.S. to defeat jihadist terror.”

2:20pm
The Jerusalem Center
@XAVIAERD says it like it is

Well, @XAVIAERD says it like it is: If you’re part of “#Queers for #Palestine,” he’ll pay for your flight to #Gaza. Go see for yourself how they treat LGBTQ+ people over there. Don’t miss this bold take on the Israel-Hamas war and the woke right.

2:32pm
The Jerusalem Center
“This isn’t Israel vs. Hamas — it’s the frontline of the free world.”

“This isn’t Israel vs. Hamas — it’s the frontline of the free world.” On Our Middle East by @JNS_org, @Dan_Diker@KhaledAbuToameh (JCFA/@GatestoneInst) break it down: If Hamas isn’t crushed, Iran wins. The jihadis—from #Gaza to your campus—get the green light. Diker: “This war is for the West.” No fluff. No filters. Just raw insight from two insiders who actually know what’s going on.  Watch: youtu.be/4Aq_zcbb4Yo

2:15pm
The Jerusalem Center
5/5 Lt. Col. Kalo on East to West with @smartinezamir:

“This operation showcases Israel’s strategic intelligence superiority both regionally and globally. It demonstrates the moral commitment to recovered soldiers and also strengthens Israel’s position with allies.” youtube.com/watch?v=nIvNNi

2:07pm
The Jerusalem Center
4/5 The operation built on intelligence gathered during the 2019 #Baumel recovery

#Mossad agents operated under cover in #Syria for years, visiting a graveyard multiple times under fire to collect remains for DNA matching. The intelligence community’s evolution combines technology, big data analysis, and human intelligence capabilities.

2:02pm
The Jerusalem Center
3/5 This recovery coincided with the release of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander

This recovery coincided with the release of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander from #Hamas in #Gaza, significantly boosting national morale amid an ongoing conflict now stretching over 18 months. The dual successes demonstrate #Israel‘s unwavering commitment to bringing all soldiers home.

1:58pm
The Jerusalem Center
2/5 The operation used the power vacuum following #Assad’s fall from #Damascus

Lt. Col. Avi Kalo, former head of IDF Prisoners & Missing Persons Division, calls it “an outstanding event that brings hope and new spirit to the people of Israel.” The operation utilized the power vacuum following #Assad‘s fall from #Damascus, allowing #Israeli intelligence to deploy ground capabilities in #Syria.

1:56pm
The Jerusalem Center
1/5 Israeli forces recovered the remains of Sergeant First Class Zvi Feldman

In an unprecedented operation, Israeli forces have recovered the remains of Sergeant First Class Zvi #Feldman, missing since the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub. The complex #Mossad mission was conducted deep within #Syrian territory, 43 years after his disappearance. This follows the successful 2019 recovery of Zachary #Baumel from the same battle.

1:54pm
The Jerusalem Center
A molotov attack on a bus = a “barbecue party”?

That’s what #Palestinian kids are being taught under @UNRWA  — from grade school to graduation. This isn’t education. It’s indoctrination. Marcus Sheff of @IMPACT_SE  breaks it down with @smartinezamir

12:51pm

Close