Zartosht Ahmadi-Ragheb Stages Sit-in to Protest “Harassment by Security Agencies”

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Zartosht Ahmadi-Ragheb staged a sit-in in front of the Ferdowsi City Council building to protest what he called “harassment by security agencies.”

Speaking to IHR, Zartosht said: “Since being released from prison in January, security forces have continued to harass my family. They want to stop my activism and force me to leave the country by putting pressure on my family.”

On one such occasion, security forces conducted a search of Zartosht’s house on 7 July 2021 and confiscated electronic devices including mobile phones, personal computers, satellite receivers and even televisions. The human rights defender has also been summoned to the Revolutionary Courts several times since his release.

“Such coercive action is being undertaken by the Ministry of Intelligence. My expulsion from work was on their orders. The consecutive trumped-up charges and successive raids of my home is also their doing,” he added.

He was a firefighter at the Tehran Fire Department for 17 years but was fired from his job for his civil activities.

Zartosht Ahmadi-Ragheb who has been arrested and imprisoned several times, was one of the 14 activists who signed a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei demanding his resignation in June 2019, which resulted in another stint behind bars.