Human rights organization: Iran has arrested 4,023 people on war-related charges
said human rights organization Iranian authorities have carried out a widespread crackdown resulting in more than 4,000 arrests on charges related to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that it had documented 4,023 arrests since the outbreak of the war on February 28 until May 9.
She added that the charges included espionage, threatening national security, and communicating or sharing content related to the conflict with foreign media.
The organization's statement read: "Iranian authorities have exploited the conflict to intensify national security narratives, justify arrests, restrict freedom of expression, and perpetrate violence against civilians.".
The arrest campaign continues
This came a day after the commander of Iran’s internal security forces, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, announced the arrest of “6,500 traitors and spies linked to the enemy” since the anti-government protests reached their peak in January.
The authorities described those demonstrations as riots and violently suppressed them in a campaign that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, according to human rights organizations.
Radan said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), “The process of identifying and arresting elements linked to the enemy is ongoing, and the police have not stopped their operations against the rioters.”.
Fears of executions
Meanwhile, concerns are growing about the pace of executions in Iran.
Since the outbreak of the war, Iranian authorities have executed 26 people, according to human rights organizations that describe them as “political prisoners.” These include 14 men on charges related to the January protests, one man for the 2022 protests, and 11 people accused of being linked to banned opposition groups.
Iranian state media reports that six men have been hanged in Iran on charges of spying for Israel since the outbreak of the war.
HRANA announced that it had also documented the killing of at least 3,636 people, including 1,701 civilians, as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
