Mehdi Mahmoudian, Abdollah Momeni, and Vida Rabbani, three prominent political activists in Iran, were arrested today, January 31, 2026, by security forces, in what appears to be a targeted reprisal for their public opposition to the ongoing state violence against protesters.
In recent weeks, the three activists, together with several others, signed a series of statements known as the “Statement of Seventeen,” in which they strongly condemned the killing of protesters across Iran. These statements characterized the crackdown as an “organized state crime against humanity” and explicitly held Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, responsible for the systematic violence.
The signatories also called for the prosecution of those who ordered and carried out the repression and demanded an end to the Islamic Republic.
Earlier, at the outset of the current protest movement, and prior to the nationwide internet shutdown and the escalation of mass killings, They issued another statement on January 2, 2026, describing a peaceful transition away from the Islamic Republic as an “inevitable and unsuppressible necessity.” In that statement, they expressed solidarity with nationwide protests and reaffirmed the Iranian people’s rights to freedom, justice, and self-determination.
All three activists are well-known political figures in Iran and have previously been subjected to arrest and imprisonment. Their detention takes place amid an intensifying campaign of repression, as thousands of protesters and activists have been arrested across Iran in recent weeks, raising serious concerns about due process violations, enforced disappearances, and the use of detention as a tool of political intimidation.