Three female journalists in Iran have been arrested in the past two days and have been taken to the notorious Evin prison, the AFP news service reported citing local media. The arrested reporters are Melika Hashemi, Saideh Shafiei and Mehrnoush Zarei, according to the Tehran journalists’ union. Some 80 journalists have been arrested since the start in September of the antigovernment protests sparked by the death of Iranian Kurd woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly.
No reason was given for the arrests, but many of the thousands of arrested protesters have been incarcerated in Evin.
Meanwhile, at least 16 men detained by Iranian security forces died under torture while in the custody of police or security forces, according to a report by the Follow-Up Committee on Detainees’ Fate, a group of independent Iranian activists, The New Arab reported. According to the report, the families that identified their dead relatives saw marks of torture on their bodies. In addition, the families said they were pressured to say their relatives died in an accident or by suicide,.
Nearly 500 protesters have been killed since the start of the protests in Iran, and about 20,000 have been arrested.