Iran Arrests Kurdish Bodybuilding Champion After Protest

Iranian intelligence agents have arrested a bodybuilding champion who had sustained injuries while participating in an anti-government rally.

A source close to Reza Olfati's family told IranWire that the Kurdish bodybuilder was arrested in the western Kermanshah province on October 30 after security forces stormed the house where he was staying.

Olfati, a champion at the provincial level, was injured about three weeks ago during a demonstration in the provincial capital, also named Kermanshah, the source said.

He was first taken to his father's house in Gilangreb, and then returned to Kermanshah on October 31 after he recovered from his injuries.

Olfati was arrested immediately after arriving at the house of one of his friends, and has since been held at the Kermanshah Intelligence Department, according to the source.

Iran has been rocked by unrest since a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of Tehran’s morality police on September 16. The largely peaceful demonstrations have grown to become the biggest challenge to Iran’s regime since the 2009 protest movement.

The unrest triggered a heavy-handed crackdown in which security forces fired bullets and tear gas at protesters, killing at least 277 people, according to one human rights group. IranWire reported the deaths of 48 children. Several thousand people were also arrested.