Reza Mehregan, Another Signatory of Letter Demanding Khamenei’s Resignation, Arrested
Reza Mehregan, one of the signatories of a letter demanding the resignation of Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has been arrested in one of the villages under Ramsar’s jurisdiction.
According to published reports, agents of the Ramsar County Information Office visited this civil activist’s residence on Wednesday, September 6, in one of the villages under Ramsar County. After searching the residence and confiscating personal belongings including a mobile phone, they arrested him.
According to information released, Mr. Mehregan’s arrest was accompanied by beatings by security personnel, and there is currently no information available about his place of detention.
Fourteen Iranian political and civil activists issued a letter on June 22 of this year demanding the resignation of the leader of the Islamic Republic and constitutional reform in Iran.
A few weeks after signing this letter, Reza Mehregan, one of its signatories, announced by posting a photo on his Twitter page that he had been attacked and beaten by unidentified individuals with a stun gun.
Zoroaster Ahmadi-Ragheb, Mohammad Reza Beyat, Kamal Jafari Yazdi, Hashem Khohsatar, Mohammad Hossein Sepahari, Gohar Eshghi (mother of Siamak Namazi), Houriya Faraj-Zada (sister of Sharam Faraj-Zada, a victim of the 2009 protests), Mohammad Karim Beghi, Javad Lael-Mohammadi, Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Mahdavi-Far, Reza Mehregan, Mohammad Nourizadeh, and Abbas Vahidian Shahrudi were the signatories of this letter.
In mid-August of this year, 14 women civil activists, given the inequalities and problems women face in Iran, issued a letter calling for the end of the Islamic Republic and the drafting of a new constitution.
These civil activists, while describing the Islamic Republic system as “anti-women,” announced that in protest of what they called “sexual apartheid resulting from the patriarchal perspective of the clerical system,” they have risen against this system and are calling for a complete transition from the Islamic Republic system and the drafting of a new constitution.
Shahla Entesari, Nosrat Beheshti, Forouzan Tasvib, Parva (Sakineh) Pachide, Giti Pourfahzal, Ezzat Javadi-Hosseini, Zahra Jamali, Shahla Jahan-Bin, Fatema Sepahari, Maryam Soleymani, Sosan Taherkhani, Farrangis Mazlum, Narges Mansouri, and Kimia Noruzi-Saber were the signatories of this letter.
Previously, the security authorities of the Islamic Republic accused the signatories of these letters of attempting to “design a new sedition.” Many of the signatories of these two letters have been arrested in recent days.
International human rights organizations and the United States have accused the Islamic Republic of violating freedom of expression and suppressing civil activists, and have called for the release of journalists who have been imprisoned solely for performing their duties.
The U.S. State Department also states that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, and representatives of workers and other groups in the past two years.
Source: Voice of America
