Assets of Inverse art school founder Alireza Ordoubadi seized

The Islamic Republic's judiciary has seized the assets of Alireza Ordoubadi, founder and owner of the Inverse School of Art and Design in Tehran, and has begun proceedings to confiscate them. The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency confirmed the seizure on Saturday, 31 October 2026, and said it was over Ordoubadi's activity on social media.

A day earlier, on Friday, 30 October, Inverse had announced on its Instagram page that its website had been filtered, all its bank accounts and payment gateways had been blocked and its assets had been seized. A notice at the top of the school's website now says that courses cannot be purchased by order of the judicial authorities.

Accusations without evidence

Fars claimed that Ordoubadi had insulted Shia Muslims on his personal pages and promoted opposition to the Islamic Republic. The agency published no evidence, did not name the authority that issued the order, and gave neither the value of the seized assets nor the stage of the judicial proceedings.

In a statement, Ordoubadi wrote that the school's problem stems from his own personal views and that Inverse has never published political content. He said more than 70,000 people have trained at the school over the past 18 years. He wrote that Iranians have the right to think and protest freely and that he does not need anyone's permission to say so: “My place is right here beside these people.”

With the payment gateways closed, new enrolments and course sales have stopped. The school says students who bought courses earlier still have access to the content and to support.

Asset confiscation, a new tool of repression

Inverse opened in Tehran in 2008 and began teaching online in 2019. Its courses cover graphic design, product design, animation, filmmaking and programming.

The seizure of Ordoubadi's assets is part of a wave the judiciary launched after the Dey uprising. In Shahrivar (August–September) this year, the judiciary announced that it had seized the assets of 240 people it calls “traitors”, 143 of them in Tehran, and had closed 182 bank accounts. This week Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of the judiciary, also called for faster handling of “collaboration with the enemy” cases.

Over a few social media posts, the Islamic Republic shut down a school with 70,000 students.