More than 270 Iranian and non-Iranian scholars and civil society activists on Tuesday signed an open letter that denounces the recent arrests and summons of prominent leftist intellectuals in Iran, calling the detentions arbitrary and unlawful.
The signatories expressed deep concern and outrage over the arrests of economist Parviz Sedaghat, sociologist Mahsa Asadollahnejad, writer and translator Shirin Karimi, and the summons of Mohammad Maljoo, an economist long known for his independent analysis of Iran’s political economy.
They described the detained scholars as “leftist thinkers concerned with social justice and opposed to war and foreign domination.”
According to the statement, the academics were arrested on charges of acting against national security, a catch-all accusation often used against dissidents.
The signatories warned that the detentions mark “a new campaign to silence independent voices and reinforce an atmosphere of repression in Iran.”
They drew parallels with past crackdowns on academic freedom — from the 1980 Cultural Revolution, which purged thousands of professors and students, to the suppression of the 1999 student protests, the post-election unrest of 2009, and the mass expulsions of academics following the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.
Notable figures among the signatories include Judith Butler, distinguished professor at the University of California, Berkeley; Ervand Abrahamian, historian and professor emeritus at the City University of New York; Ziba Mir-Hosseini, research associate at SOAS, University of London; Ali Mirsepassi and Arang Keshavarzian of New York University; Fatemeh Shams of the University of Pennsylvania; Nayereh Tohidi and Kazem Alamdari of California State University; Kamran Matin of the University of Sussex; Rasmus Elling of the University of Copenhagen; Haideh Moghissi and Jim Vernon of York University; Azadeh Kian of Université Paris Cité; and PEN America’s Writers at Risk director Karin Deutsch Karlekar.
Among the Iranian signatories inside the country are theologian Sedigheh Vasmaghi, political scientist Hatam Ghaderi, sociologist Kazem Kardavani, and filmmaker Reza Haeri.
The arrests have drawn wider condemnation. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the immediate release of Sedaghat and other detained scholars, while PEN America denounced Iran’s “escalating campaign against freedom of expression.”
Earlier this month, nearly 900 Iranian activists and intellectuals issued a separate statement calling for unity against what they called "the suppression of thought and expression,” describing the crackdown as “a desperate attempt by a failing regime to stifle intellectual vitality.”
Baha'is are a religious minority in Iran persecuted by the ruling Islamic theocracy.
“My beloved aunt was arrested while pleading for the release of her husband, who himself had been taken from his workplace just weeks earlier. They raided his office, seized files, and vanished him without a word,” said Saghar Shahidi-Birjandian in an interview with Iran International.
“When she tried to find him, they came for her too. Now both are imprisoned without charges, denied lawyers, denied bail, and even denied the right to mourn after a death in the family,” she added.
Shahidi-Birjandian’s uncle, Kourosh Ziari, was arrested on October 4 at his workplace in Gonbad-e Kavus in northeastern Iran after authorities raided his office and seized his documents.
Her aunt, Sholeh Shahidi, was detained two weeks later while advocating for her husband’s release. Both were held at undisclosed locations for weeks before being transferred to the provincial capital of Gorgan, where they remain detained without legal counsel or formal charges.
“Her disabled son, who depends on her for everything, wasn’t even allowed to see her. The cruelty feels endless, and yet all they’ve ever done is live peacefully,” said Shahidi-Birjandian.
She has launched a Change.org petition calling for the couple’s immediate and unconditional release, protection from mistreatment in detention, and the reunion of their disabled son with his parents.
Growing crackdown
Her story is not unique.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the clerical establishment to power in Iran, Baha'is have been systemically persecuted simply for their faith because the Islamic Republic does not recognize the Baha'i faith as an official religion and views it as heretical to Islam.
Authorities routinely accuse Baha'is of being spies for Israel since the Baháʼí World Centre is located in Haifa, Israel, though the site predates the creation of Israel.
Baha'is in Iran have faced arbitrary arrests, executions, confiscation of property, denial of higher education, job bans and harassment, a state-sanctioned effort to erase their community from public life despite their peaceful and apolitical beliefs.
Since the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, the situation for Baha'i in Iran has deteriorated sharply, Farhad Sabetan, spokesperson for the Baha’i International Community told Iran International. There has been a coordinated wave of raids across at least six provinces including Sistan and Baluchistan, Semnan, Mazandaran, Fars, Isfahan and Tehran, says Sabetan.
In October alone, security agents raided at least twenty-two homes and businesses, seizing belongings, sealing shops, and detaining Baha'is as part of a growing campaign of intimidation amid Iran’s worsening economic and political crisis.
“Every single instance of what I just described is solely because they’re Baha'is. Authorities often come without a warrant, give no explanation, and later invent charges like acting against national security, without a shred of evidence,” Sabetan said.
“It is pressure upon pressure. They can’t have a job, their stores are sealed, they can’t go to university, and they have no access to basic rights simply because they’re Baháʼís,” he added.
Human rights advocates say the renewed crackdown on Baha'is reflects a broader pattern of repression inside Iran, as the authorities tighten their grip amid economic decline and growing unrest.
For families like Shahidi-Birjandian’s, the cost of practicing their faith remains high.