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Iranian officials say they have identified the “Iranian International Agent” arrested on Thursday as Elham Afkari, the sister of a famous Iranian wrestler. Navid AfkariAccording to the state news agency IRNA, he was executed two years ago.
A news channel based in London Iran International has become one of the go-to sources for many Iranians looking for news about the country protests continue in the country.
On Tuesday, the opposition television station, which Iran’s intelligence minister called a “terrorist” organization, denied any links to Elham.
The London-based broadcaster said in a statement sent to CNN that Elham “is not an employee of Iran International, nor is he an employee or agent of the company.”
His brother Navid Afkari was found guilty of killing Hasan Torkman, a water company security officer, during a protest in Shiraz in 2018.
At first, Afkari confessed to the crime, but retracted his statement, citing that he was tortured to make a false confession in court.
“It should be noted that he [Elham Afkari] An employee of the regional water company of Fars province, she is the sister of Navid Afkari, the killer of martyr Torkman,” IRNA reports.
“Intelligence operatives have been monitoring the activities of Elham Afkari for the past few years,” IRNA said, adding that “he was one of the main leaders behind the recent riots.”
State media shared pictures of Elham’s arrest. The pictures show a woman sitting in the back seat of a car with barred windows, her face covered with a black veil.
Elham and Navid’s brother Saeed Afkari confirmed his sister’s arrest on Twitter on Thursday, saying Elham’s three-year-old daughter was also missing.
Later, he said that Elham was taken to the department of the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran, and his sister’s wife and daughter were released.
“Elham was taken to the department of the Ministry of Intelligence No. 100,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
After Navid Afkari’s execution, his family faced multiple lawsuits in 2018 over their participation in demonstrations.
According to the Iranian Human Rights Organization, one of his brothers, Vahid Afkari, is in solitary confinement.
Founded in 2017, Iran International has been at the forefront of covering the recent demonstrations since his death in custody. Mahsa Amini – A 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman was detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
However, the 24-hour news channel’s coverage of the demonstrations brought it under the control of the Iranian government.
Iran International said this week that two British-Iranian journalists working in the United Kingdom had been warned by police of a “credible” assassination attempt. Iran to kill them.
In a statement on Monday, the Persian-language broadcaster said it was “shocked and deeply concerned” by the alleged death threats, while accusing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being part of a “significant and dangerous escalation” of Tehran’s “campaign”. “Intimidation of Iranian journalists working abroad”.
Iran International’s statement reads: “In recent days, two of our British-Iranian journalists have been informed that threats against them have increased.
“The Metropolitan Police have now officially informed both journalists that these threats pose an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and the lives of their families.”
Iran International has not released the names of the journalists for security reasons.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 61 journalists were arrested in Iran on Monday for covering the protests, reporting the deaths of protesters and taking photos of the demonstrations.
