Mashhad university professor Ahmad Rahimi still held in Vakilabad prison after six months

The temporary detention order for Ahmad Rahimi, a former information technology professor at Mashhad universities, was extended on Monday, 12 October 2026, at the Mashhad Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office. According to HRANA, he has been held for more than six months in Mashhad's Vakilabad prison, and his arrest is linked to his humanitarian aid to those wounded in the December 2025–January 2026 uprising.

According to the report, Ahmad Rahimi was taken in handcuffs and leg shackles to the Mashhad Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office for an interrogation session on Monday, and his final defence statement was taken in the presence of his court-appointed lawyer. Mohsen Vahedian Azimi, the investigating judge in the case, rejected the request to convert the detention order into bail and extended his detention. IranWire has also reported the extension of this university professor's detention on charges of helping the December–January protesters.

The arrest of Ahmad Rahimi and the Starlink accusation

Security agents arrested Ahmad Rahimi at his home in Mashhad on 18 March 2026. According to HRANA, the security bodies have also accused him of using the Starlink satellite internet, but his formal charge has still not been made clear. A well-informed source told HRANA that the court-appointed lawyer in the case warned his family not to publish details of the case in the media.

Ahmad Rahimi suffers from several illnesses and, according to HRANA, has been denied access to specialist treatment and transfer to medical facilities outside the prison.

A university professor who had helped those wounded in the December–January uprising still has no clear charge six months after his arrest.

Building cases against those detained in the December–January uprising in Mashhad

Ahmad Rahimi's is not the only case the Islamic Republic's judiciary has opened in Mashhad after the December–January uprising. Earlier, Reza Shoja-Mazraji, a teacher from Sarakhs, was sentenced by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court to more than four years in prison, and Najmeh Amini, a student held in Vakilabad, has been sentenced to death.

Sources

• HRANA
• IranWire