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| Some of the Arrested Activists |
List of 130 Detained Individuals Released
As the mass protests initiated by Turks in the provinces of Azerbaijan and other regions of Iran continued on November 9, reports indicate that the wave of arrests has expanded, targeting citizens who participated in the protests, as well as activists who called for participation on social media.
The mass protests in Iranian Azerbaijan, as well as in Tehran, Gilan, and Fars (Shiraz) provinces, followed the reactions to the degradation of Turks in the state television’s children's program "Fitile" aired on November 6.
The AZOH website published a list of 130 people who have been arrested since the protests began.
The police intervention and wave of arrests have not been limited to the provinces of Azerbaijan. According to Iranian news agencies, citing Sepah officials, Sepah forces have detained a group of internet activists who were calling for a rally among the Turks of Gilan province.
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| Urmia, Iranian Azerbaijan - November 9, 2015 |
“Anonymous soldiers from the Gilan Quds Sepah security service have tracked and detained individuals and agents who were spreading calls for a rally on the internet, with the aim of creating a crisis and chaos in the community, as well as provoking the Gilan Turks,” the Cyber (Cyber) section of Gilan Sepah told the Tasnim news agency.
No information has been provided about the identities of those detained in Gilan.
In the past year, arrests also took place in the city of Ahar in East Azerbaijan, where a Turkish language rights activist was arrested and tried before the rally even took place.
According to South Azerbaijan Television and the Oyan News website, national activists Saleh Molla-Abbasi, Akbar Abulzadeh, Ibrahim Nuri, Majid Nagizadeh, Suleyman Kazimi, Arash Jafari, Murtaza Safari, Mehdi Zincir-Bulagi, Akbar Jahangirzadeh, Hamid Allahverdi, Jalal Drugari, and Israel Fatollahzadeh were arrested by security forces in Ahar on November 12.
Before the arrests in Ahar, the city’s governor had warned, citing Mehr news agency, that necessary measures would be taken to prevent any "illegal rally" from taking place.
Reports have emerged that those arrested in Ahar were severely beaten by officials. Additionally, according to news circulating on social media, Saleh Molla-Abbasi’s daughters, Gunesh and Pinar Molla-Abbasi, were also held in custody for several hours.
Internet newspapers also report that the wave of arrests, which began on November 9 in the city of Khiyav (Meshginshahr) in Ardabil province, continued in the following days.
Human rights defenders have reported that a group of activists was also detained in the cities of Julfa and Malikaneh (Malikandi) in East Azerbaijan province. It is reported that several of them were sent to the Ettelaat prison in Tabriz, while others were released after being questioned.
Human rights groups have stated that dozens of students studying at Tehran universities were arrested and sent to the Ettelaat prison.
New arrests have also taken place in Azerbaijan's cities such as Ardabil, Urmia, Sulduz, and Khoy.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İranda türklərə qarşı həbs dalğası genişlənməkdədir