Iran has arrested more than 3,000 citizens in recent months accused of collaborating with “the enemy,” the nation’s judiciary said Monday.
The Islamic republic has taken 3,292 people into custody, claiming 684 individuals carried out “operational actions” for Israel, Iranian Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir told Tehran’s semi-official Student News Network (SNN).
Another 1,258 were accused of carrying out political propaganda against the state, with 1,061 indictments issued so far on the individuals in custody.
Along with being arrested, Jahangir noted that hundreds of suspected traitors have already had their assets confiscated by the state.
Last week, the judiciary claimed that it had seized the properties of 100 “traitors” in the Isfahan province alone, without providing further details.
The latest waves of arrests come after the Islamic republic arrested more than 50,000 people in the wake of the anti-regime protests in January that led to a bloody crackdown on dissent.
Tehran has since gone after so-called traitors who allegedly aided the US-Israeli joint airstrikes during the height of the war.
“As the Zionist enemy (Israel) and the US are attempting to invade Iran, they simultaneously activate mercenaries and spies to carry out riots as the next step,” a provincial branch of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organization said at the time.
Iran, however, has been accused by human rights groups of carrying out mass arrests and coercing false confessions to crack down on critics of the regime.
“[Iran is] using the cover of what they call ‘wartime conditions’ to intensify their repression of dissent through mass arbitrary arrests, accelerated grossly unfair judicial proceedings, politically motivated executions, harsh prison sentences, and asset confiscations.” Amnesty International warned last month.
As of June 8, at least 40 prisoners, including 19 protesters, have been hanged by the state on politically motivated charges since the start of the year, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Group.
