Iranian Activist Reports Sexual Abuse in Detention

A prominent Iranian political activist has reported being sexually abused by special forces officers during a recent arrest.

Hossein Ronaghi, who had sewn his lips shut in protest against security forces preventing Kianoosh Sanjari’s funeral, detailed his allegations in a post on X.

The 40-year-old activist described being subjected to sexual abuse and threats during his temporary detention by special forces officers.

“As a well-known 40-year-old activist, I was subjected to sexual abuse and sexual insults by special forces officers of the police,” Ronaghi wrote, characterizing their behavior as that of “thugs and rapists.”

He reported that officers made threats of rape and directed sexual insults toward his family members during the incident.

Ronaghi had gone to the Tehran Revolutionary Court, where he was detained for several hours before being released.

Four days into his lip-sewing protest, Ronaghi described deteriorating physical conditions.

“My lips are swollen and wounded, and my physical weakness has intensified,” he said.

He also reported bruising from being assaulted in the special forces vehicle and recurring nosebleeds.

Before these events, Ronaghi, along with women’s rights activist Aliyeh Motamedzadeh, had visited Kianoosh Sanjari’s home in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent his suicide.

Sanjari’s death has prompted widespread reactions, including from Amnesty International, which attributed his suffering to “years of interrogation, unjust detention, torture, and exile” while noting his oppressors “remained unpunished.”

Ronaghi announced plans to visit the site of Sanjari’s suicide alone to lay flowers, saying, “Bringing flowers is not a crime, nor is holding a sit-in, nor is mourning for a noble Iranian patriot.”

Kianoosh Sanjari, an Iranian journalist and political activist whose love for his homeland drew him back repeatedly despite imprisonment and persecution, died by suicide on Wednesday in a final act of protest against the detention of political prisoners. He was 42.

His death followed a public ultimatum demanding the release of four imprisoned activists, including Fatemeh Sepehri and Toomaj Salehi.