Malekshahi, Ilam: 11 arrested over role in January uprising

The Intelligence Department of Ilam province announced that it has arrested 11 people in Malekshahi county on charges of playing a role in the January 2026 uprising, nearly 10 months after the protests, in which Malekshahi was one of the bloodiest centres of repression. The security body has accused the detainees of "firing at security forces, destroying property and playing a role in the January protests."

Ilam's Intelligence Department claimed that the detainees were organized in three groups, had links with the United States and Israel, and that weapons were seized from them; but it has presented no evidence for these claims. The body's statement gives neither the names of the detainees, nor the exact date of the arrests, nor where they are being held, nor whether they have access to a lawyer.

A repeated pattern of security charges

In recent months the Islamic Republic's security bodies have repeatedly arrested protesters of the January uprising on charges such as contact with the "enemy" and carrying weapons, charges that can lead to a death sentence in the Revolutionary Courts. On 3 October the Ministry of Intelligence had also announced the arrest of 31 people in Sirjan, in Kerman province. Amnesty International says thousands of people have been detained in connection with these protests and at least 34 have been executed, and that at least 20 more protesters face imminent execution after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences.

Prison and lashes for a protesting student in Rudsar

At the same time, Mohammad Javad Mohammadzadeh Tavasani, a student living in Rudsar and one of those detained in the January uprising, was sentenced to six months in prison and 20 lashes. The sentence was reported by HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran.

The statement from Ilam's Intelligence Department neither names the detainees nor offers any evidence for the claim that they had links with the United States and Israel.

The judicial and security prosecution of protesters of the January uprising has intensified in recent months. New information on the suppression of the January uprising in Semnan also shows that government forces in those days fired at protesters from the roofs of government buildings.