Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); June 26, 2025: Since the early days of Israel's attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic began widespread arrests under pretexts such as publishing pro-Israel news, contact with foreign media, collaborating with or spying for Israel. As well as a new wave of arrests of Baha’i citizens, at least four Western tourists have been arrested for espionage charges and Afghan nationals are being arrested and deported at an unprecedented rate.
Iran state media have reported arrest of 700 individuals on charges of espionage. This is while IHRNGO research shows the number of arrests during this period exceeds 900. The majority of detainees are individuals whose mobile devices were searched during stop-and-search operations, when content such as footage of Israeli military actions were reportedly discovered.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) also passed a bill increasing the punishment for those collaborating with Israel. According to the new legislation, “espionage or cooperation with hostile governments, including the United States,” is considered “efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) and is punishable by death under Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code.
IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated: “The new parliamentary bill and widespread arrests under the pretext of espionage are part of efforts to intensify the repressive atmosphere in society to prevent protests. Islamic Republic authorities know that the real threat to the regime’s survival is not Israeli spies, but the discontented Iranian citizens who reject an incompetent, corrupt and repressive government.”
According to reports received by Iran Human Rights, since the start of the war, authorities have sent threatening messages to a large number of citizens and briefly detained or threatened several prominent activists by phone to refrain from writing anything “in favour of the enemy” on social media. In addition, widespread repression and arrests of citizens, along with arrests of activists solely for expressing opinions on social media, continue with intensity.
State media reported the arrest of more than 700 people on charges of “espionage for Israel,” with the highest numbers of arrests reported in Kermanshah (126), Isfahan (76), Khuzestan (62), Fars (53) and Lorestan (49).
Research by IHRNGO, based on received reports and a study of domestic media, shows that at least 900 people were arrested, 200 of whom were accused of simply expressing opinions or criticising the military and political leaders of the Islamic Republic on social media. These charges cover a wide range of offences, including “distributing provocative and insulting material, supporting Israel, disturbing public opinion, defaming and destroying the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, online propaganda in favour of Israel, creating fear and disturbing the mental peace of the public, media support for Israel, insulting the status of martyrs, and disrupting the mental security of society.” Another 700 people were arrested on a range of charges, including “collaborating with Israel, being a terrorist agent, spying for Israel, transporting or keeping and using drones or explosives.”
As well as the high number of Afghan nationals arrested in Iran, official media reported the arrest of at least four Western tourists in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Kermanshah, Hamadan and Bushehr.
Activists such as Mostafa Mehrayin, Motaharah Gooneyi, Toomaj Salehi and Hossein Ronaghi Maleki have been arrested. Some like Toomaj Salehi were released after interrogations and there is no information about the status of the other cases.
On the other hand, following the Israeli attack on part of Tehran’s Evin Prison, political prisoners were transferred from the prison to other locations. Prominent human rights defender and the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Narges Mohammadi wrote on X/Twitter: “[T]here has been no information about the whereabouts or conditions of detainees held in Evin’s high-security wards — including Ward 209 and Ward 240 (run by the Ministry of Intelligence), Ward 2-A (run by the IRGC), and Ward 241 (run by the Judiciary’s Intelligence Protection Unit).”
Many female prisoners were also transferred to Qarchak Prison, a prison IHRNGO described in a December 2024 report as “Hell for Women and Children.”
Amid the escalation of arrests on charges of collaboration with Israel,, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, head of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, stated that those accused of ties to Israel should be “very swiftly tried and punished according to wartime conditions.”
A significant number of those arrested are Afghans living in Iran. On 4 June, IHRNGO and 83 other human rights organisations and groups issued a statement calling for action to stop the increasing number of Afghan executions in Iran. As the most costless victims of the death penalty in Iran, they expressed “fear that dozens more Afghan nationals will be executed in the coming months.”