Ministry of Intelligence Claims to Have Arrested ‘9 Foreign Nationals’ in Protests ‘On Scene or Behind the Scenes’

Concurrent with the renewed escalation of popular protests in various Iranian cities, the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic issued a statement claiming that it has identified and arrested individuals it described as “seditionists” and “destructive agents,” including “9 foreign nationals,” in the “scene or behind the scenes” of recent protests.

In the sixth section of this statement, released Friday evening, September 8th, it stated: “Nine foreign nationals from the citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and others were arrested at the scene of the riots or behind the scenes of conspiracy.”

The statement also accused the governments of the United States, Britain, and Saudi Arabia of “direct interference” and simultaneously accused embassies of several European countries including “Germany, France, Britain, and Sweden” of involvement in the ongoing protests in Iran.

Additionally, the statement named the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization as one of the factors in “organizing terror and destruction” in protests over the past two weeks.

The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic continued its claims by adding that it has arrested “49 people” affiliated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization along with 77 members of various Kurdish political parties including “Komala, Democrat, Pak, and PJAK” in recent days.

The ministry also claimed to have arrested “92 members” of Pahlavi monarchist supporters, five members of “terrorist-takfiri groups,” and five Bahá’ís including “three leaders” of this religious minority in Iran.

The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic in its statement called those people who remain present in the streets of various cities in response to Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody, “uninformed and deceived riotous elements.”

Authorities and security agencies of the Islamic Republic have described protesters in similar terms during every protest over past decades.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Intelligence in another section of its lengthy statement, without providing any documents or evidence, reported thwarting “a plan to bomb a sensitive industrial center” as “pre-riot conspiracy” and also “sabotage of two passenger airplanes.”

The ministry also again pointed the finger of accusation at Persian-language media outlets outside the country in relation to the expansion of protests and “encouraging strikes.”

Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old girl from Saqez who traveled to Tehran with her family to visit relatives, suffered brain death after being arrested by Guidance Patrol officers and transferred to the police moral security detention center on Vezara Street.

News of her death was released on September 25th at Kasrai Hospital in Tehran, and since then, various cities in Iran have been the scene of popular protests.

On the other hand, the release of this news has been met with widespread international reactions, all in support of protesters and challenging the Islamic Republic’s government in its treatment of citizens and protesters within the country, which has further angered government officials.

Eye witnesses and a number of independent doctors who observed Mahsa Amini’s brain CT scan report beating and the presence of blood in the lungs resulting from severe blows to the head.

However, Islamic Republic officials have constantly claimed to have “documentation” based on “underlying illness” to deny the issue of her beating by officers, but these documents have not yet been made available to the media.

Source: Radio Farda