TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have re-arrested a dissident Iranian journalist barely three months after his release from jail following two years of incarceration, his family said on Tuesday.
Keyvan Samimi, known for his activism, was arrested on Thursday, the family said. “We’ve no further information on the (security) service responsible for his arrest or whereabouts,” the family added.
The 74-year-old journalist was released from Semnan Prison in January after being sentenced to three years in jail for “plotting against national security” in December 2020. Since his release, he was known to have met with activists and other political figures, including reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami.
In January, Samimi’s family said he faced a separate case in which he was accused of “association against the security of the country.”
In 2022, Samimi was provisionally released from prison and returned home due to health problems but was re-incarcerated in May after being suspected of engaging in political activities.
In December 2022, Samimi sent a message from his detention cell supporting the protest movement that shook Iran following the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died in the custody of the morality police in Iran after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country’s dress code for women.
Samimi, a former editor of the now-banned intellectual magazine Iran-e-Farda (Iran Tomorrow), has been imprisoned several times before and after Iran’s 1979 revolution.
Local media reported that Iran has also charged two prominent actresses for publishing images of themselves defying the country’s dress code just weeks after announcing a crackdown on breaches.
The Tasnim news agency said that Tehran police have referred the case against Katayoun Riahi and Pantea Bahram to the Iranian judiciary, accusing them of the “crime of removing the hijab in public and posting images on the internet.” If prosecuted, the pair could face fines and prison terms.
Iranian police said they would begin using “smart” technology in public areas to crack down on women defying Iran’s compulsory dress code.
The previous week, photos of Bahram, 53, went viral after she posed without a headscarf at a film screening, while Riahi, 61, posted several photos taken in public places around Tehran where she didn’t wear a headscarf.
Bahram and Riahi have won many awards at Iran’s leading cinema event, the Fajr International Film Festival.
In November 2022, Riahi was released on bail after more than a week’s detention for posting photos to Instagram in solidarity with the Amini protests, showing herself without a headscarf.
On April 16, authorities said they had closed 150 commercial establishments whose employees did not comply with the dress code.
