Cinematographer Leila Naghdipari was one of hundreds of Iranians arrested over the weekend for attempting to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly breaking the country's mandatory head-scarf rule.
Naghdipari's husband, director Majid Barzegar, said in a post on Instagram on September 18 that his wife left the house at noon a day earlier and subsequently went missing for more than 24 hours before he received a late night phone call from Nakhdipari that she was alive.
She said: "I'm good. Very good. I have received a temporary detention order and now I'm in Qarchak Varamin prison," he wrote. He had no further details.
The arrest was one of hundreds made over the weekend amid sporadic protests by Iranians and a tight clampdown on any gatherings across the country as one year passed since Amini's death on September 16, 2022.
Video on social media on September 17 showed protesters in the western city of Hamadan clapping and shouting "Death to the Islamic republic." Some video showed protesters scattering after what appears to be shooting by security forces.
The Tehran-based Shargh newspaper, citing official sources, said that at least 270 individuals had been detained in various Iranian cities, outside of Tehran. “However, unofficial figures indicate even higher numbers,” Shargh added.
The Islamic Republic's official news agency, IRNA, confirmed the arrests, accusing the detainees of "disruption" and "rioting." It gave no further information.
Amini's death sparked a wave of protests nationwide that rocked the country, posing the greatest threat to the Islamic leadership since it took power following the revolution in 1979.
Iranians, especially women and students, defiantly took to the streets calling for the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down because of the government's trampling of human rights and freedoms.
Authorities responded with a clampdown that has left hundreds dead and saw thousands detained.
They had warned ahead the weekend that all dissent would be dealt with severely, and even briefly arrested Amini's father on September 16 as a warning to avoid commemorating his 22-year-old daughter's death.
In the western Iranian city of Sanandaj, reports emerged of the arrest of a 15-year-old whose whereabouts remain unknown, while the Norway-based Hengaw group, which monitors rights violations in Iran's Kurdish regions, reported on September 17 that government forces arrested people in the cities of Gorgan, Fasa, Bojnurd, Zahedan, Zanjan, and Qeshm.
Meanwhile, images taken outside the "Relief Command Headquarters of the Police Force" in Tehran over the weekend show dozens of families waiting, seeking information about their detained relatives.
Rahim Jahanbakhsh, the police commander of West Azerbaijan Province, announced the arrest of 137 individuals on charges of "disturbing public opinion in social media."