Milad Balsini, a Turkic civil activist from Tabriz, has been in detention for more than 50 days. In an exclusive report published in the early hours of Sunday, 11 October 2026, Voice of America's Persian service said the charge against him is "cooperating with hostile media" — a label that the Islamic Republic's security bodies apply to free Persian-language media outside the country.
According to the human rights organisation Hengaw, Mr Balsini was arrested by Intelligence Department agents in the grounds of the court on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, after appearing at Branch 15 of the Tabriz Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office to present his defence, and was taken to an unknown location. He had gone to the prosecutor's office in response to a summons issued about 10 days earlier. At the time, Hengaw reported that the authorities had not disclosed where he was being held, his physical condition or the charge against him.
Milad Balsini's history of arrests
According to Hengaw, the civil activist had been summoned and detained several times before by security and judicial bodies. His re-arrest immediately after an interrogation session is a pattern that has been repeated many times in the cases of civil activists in Azerbaijan.
Criminalising talking to free media
Mr Balsini's case continues at a time when the Islamic Republic has turned speaking to independent media abroad into one of the main charges against activists, journalists and citizens. In recent weeks, too, Majid Saeedi, a well-known news photographer, has remained without word a month after his arrest, and Mostafa Mehrayin, a sociologist critical of Ali Khamenei, has been arrested to serve a prison sentence.
Milad Balsini has been in detention since 18 August, and the only charge announced against him is contact with free Persian-language media.
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