Ayoub Gheibipour Hajivar, one of the detainees from the 2022 nationwide protests, was arrested by security forces in Ahvaz yesterday and transferred to an undisclosed location.
According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists in Iran, a source close to Gheibipour’s family confirmed the news, stating:
“Yesterday, IRGC intelligence agents first went to Mr. Gheibipour’s family home in Ahvaz. After learning he was not home, they went to the gym where he was training and arrested him there. The agents also confiscated the gym’s CCTV cameras. His current location remains unknown.”
The source added: “Mr. Gheibipour has not received any summons to serve his sentence. It is likely that his arrest is connected to his activities.”
In April of 2024, the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court sentenced Gheibipour on charges of arson, destruction of public property, and propaganda against the regime. He was given a 10-year prison term in exile in Kerman Prison for “moharebeh” (enmity against God) and an additional year for “propaganda against the regime.” One of the charges cited against him was “burning a statue of Qassem Soleimani.”
Initially, this verdict was overturned by Branch 20 of the Supreme Court and sent back for retrial. The Ahvaz Revolutionary Court reinstated the same sentence, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court in late October 2024.
Gheibipour was previously arrested in November 2022 during the nationwide protests and detained at Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz. He was eventually released on February 13, 2024, after posting a bail of 3 billion tomans. During his detention, he was denied adequate medical care.
