Iranian authorities said to arrest reformist figures for ‘working in favor of the Zionist regime’

Iranian authorities arrest three reformist figures, including the head of Iran’s Reform Front coalition, Azar Mansouri, the local Fars news agency reports.

“Azar Mansouri, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh were arrested by security and judicial institutions,” the agency says.

“The accusations against these individuals include targeting national unity, taking a stance against the constitution, coordination with enemy propaganda, promoting surrender, diverting political groups and creating secret subversive mechanisms,” it added.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency also reports that several people were arrested, but does not identify them.

“After completing the investigation into the actions and activities of some important political elements supporting the Zionist regime and America, four members of this group were charged with crimes, and the active elements working in favor of the Zionist regime and America were arrested,” Mizan says.

Mansouri, 60, was an adviser to reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.

Following the protests that started in Iran in December, she posted on Instagram that “when all avenues to be heard are closed, protest takes to the streets,” adding that a “crackdown is the worst way to deal with protesters.”

Referring to the deaths of thousands of people during the protests, she later said, “We don’t have access to the media, but we say to the grieving families: You are not alone.”

She added that “no power, no justification, and no time can cleanse this great disaster.”

Mansouri was previously arrested after the protests that followed the 2009 Iranian presidential election, and was sentenced to three years in prison for disrupting public order and propaganda against the state, among other charges.

In 2022, she was charged again and subsequently sentenced to one year and two months in prison.

Since June 2023, she has been the leader of Iran’s Reform Front, an umbrella group of reformists who traditionally call for more social freedoms and the establishment of a civil society.

Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is a former member of parliament and Mohsen Aminzadeh is a former deputy at the foreign ministry.