Human Rights Activists New Agency reports:
At least 35 activists helping refugees of Earthquake were arrested tonight in Haris, [East] Azarbaijan [province], after their relief camp was attacked by Iranian Security forces. In addition, one activist was arrested yesterday.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), activists arrested tonight are: Vahed Kholoosi, Shayan Vahdati, Shima Ghousheh, Misagh Afshar, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, Vahid Rouhani, Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki, Maziar Esmaeilpour, Morteza Esmaeilpour, Hamid Reza Mossayebian, Ali Mohammadi, Mohsen Saemi, Masoud Vafabakhsh, Houman Taheri, Danial Hosseini, Nafiseh Shahidfar, Bahram Shojaie, Mohammad Arjmandi Rad, Esmael Salmanpour, Baghban Bashi, Narges Kheirollahi, Mehdi Salehi, Behrouz Alavi, Milad Panahipour, Sepehrdad Saheban, Esmael Rafati, Amir Ronaghi, Jafar Gholami, Kiana Karimpour, Farnaz Ahmadzadeh, Artemiz Varzandeh, Mehrnaz Ahmadzadeh, Amin Ronaghi, Reyhaneh Hesami, Navid Khanjani.
Why? Who knows? Perhaps it’s because the relief workers didn’t sufficiently explain to the victims they were assisting how they were acting at the behest of the Supreme Leader. Or perhaps, as is often the case in totalitarian regimes, they were arrested simply because they could be arrested.
And Potkin Azarmehr reports:
Islamic Republic security forces entered the home of Iran’s satirical poet, Seyyed Mohammad Reza Aali Payam, aka Haloo and confiscated his computer and writings and took him away on Tuesday 14th August.
Haloo is yet another popular Iranian poet who has been arrested in recent times. The arrest happened after the recent earthquake in NW Iran, when Haloo derided the regime’s pre-occupation with other causes and the apathy the regime showed for the people of Iran, by writing this couplet in his blog:
Who says we are an untroubled government?
We always care for the problems of the Arab peopleDon’t keep going on about the earthquake in Ahar
For right now Damascus and Aleppo are our troubleHaloo also announced on his blog, one day before his arrest, that the Amirkabir Literary Society, where many of Iran’s poets recited their poetry to the enthusiast audiences, had been shut down by the security apparatus.
Almost ten days later after Haloo was taken away, there is no news of his whereabouts.
Update: Tehran Bureau has more about the arrests of the earthquake relief volunteers.
